Across the Frozen Sea
by ArtyArtillery
Summary: Dante's Inferno AU. Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo find themselves stranded in the Pantoran Taiga. They must get back to civilization, but the wilds are more dangerous than they realize. If the cold doesn't get them, the locals will. COMPLETE!
1. The Taiga

Barriss comes to on the cold ground. It's soft, thanks to a carpet of pine needles. The hood of her lined winter cloak has gone askew, covering half of her face, and tangled around her neck are the ribbons of a domino mask. All around her are tall trees, growing so high they obstruct the starry night sky. Barriss' breath comes out in a cloud.

Someone is talking: a language with tongue clicks and rolling r's. There are three people here with her, standing a little ways away. They're dressed against the cold with animal masks pulled down over their heads so that she can't see their faces: a lion, a snow leopard, and a white wolf. The Leopard talks as they hold up one of Ahsoka's lightsabers.

The Lion answers in a deep voice that reverberates from his chest. The Leopard clips the lightsaber to their belt and picks up a shovel. They help dig.

The hole the three masked people are digging are about knee-deep and wide enough to fit three people. Barriss tries to get up only to find her wrists and ankles clasped in cuffs. Sheer terror clenches around her, not because of her predicament, but because of the failure it represents.

"Barriss," someone whispers. Beside Barriss is Senator Riyo Chuchi, lying on the ground in just her suit, and her hands and ankles are also cuffed together. Her gold hair ornaments are missing, leaving her head bare and tousled. She too has a domino mask hanging around her neck.

"Where are we? How did we get here?" Barriss asks in a low voice. Her words are lost among the scrape of shovels and soft sounds of falling dirt.

"I don't know, but we're going to be put in the ground if we don't do something soon," Riyo whispers. "How long does it take you to unlock things with the Force?"

"Maybe five seconds? I've never timed myself. Why?"

"Can you unlock multiple cuffs at once?"

"That's…complicated. I don't think so." It'd be like trying to shoot two different targets with one blaster bolt. But perhaps she should be able to. Jedi Knights and Masters regularly do incredible things with the Force, so why can't she? There must be something deficient about her, half-baked even. A baby bird tumbling from its nest before its time. A half-built lightsaber clipped to a belt. Although she is here, her competence lies about in pieces back at the Jedi Temple. For only—.

Riyo sighs, shaking Barriss from her thoughts. "Okay. They have blasters and your lightsabers. The cuffs will make a noise as soon as they're unlocked and that'll alert our kidnappers. If we unlock them now, we're dead."

Barriss slowly turns her head to the side and sees Ahsoka. She's lying about half a meter behind her, still fast asleep. Unlike her and Riyo, Ahsoka is cuffed and also tied with rope.

"Why did they tie her up? They didn't tie us up," Barriss whispers.

"I suspect it's because they're afraid of her. Afraid of Togruta in general, I mean, because of the Shili Counter," Riyo whispers.

Barriss learned about the Shili Counter in one of her history data pads. About a hundred years ago, a vast army once tried to take the Kingdom of Shili by force, with blasters and tanks and ships. They had every conceivable advantage and yet still failed miserably, because they didn't realize that every single Togruta, regardless of age or gender, was a death monster and nigh unstoppable even after shot several times with a blaster.

As species go, Togruta must be one of the most physically intimidating in the galaxy. Runty adults still reach almost two meters in height, not including their montrals, and manage to pack on pounds of muscle. Togruta are equipped with harder nails, denser bones, razor sharp teeth, and have the ability to see well in near darkness.

(Some historians will also point out that blaster bolts had thinner diameters back then, making them easier to survive—they started making them thicker after that failed invasion—and a bunch of other details as to why Togruta aren't so tough after all, but that's not the point. Blaster or not, no one in their right mind would ever want to fight a Togruta.)

At any rate, the Togruta successfully deflected the invasion to great effect, and then the King of Shili launched a counter-attack on the army's home planet that was so terrifying and efficient that the occupants evacuated en mass.

That's how Shili got Kiros as a colony. It's also why Shili and Kiros have been able to keep their neutral status for so long during the Clone Wars. The masked people were probably thinking about that when they decided to tie Ahsoka up.

"I could wake her and we could work together to unlock these cuffs," Barriss whispers.

"Good idea, but if you wake her now, she'll raise a fuss and our abductors will kill us," Riyo whispers.

"You don't know that."

"You look at Ahsoka again and tell me she won't make a fuss."

Ahsoka is scowling in her sleep, her body tensed like a coiled spring. The Force Bond between them is alit with a sort of turmoil in Ahsoka's head and in her heart.

"Then…hmm." If Barriss summons her lightsaber, they'll die, at least one of them will anyway. Same if she tries to summon their blasters. If they unlock any of the cuffs, they'll die. If they try to run, they'll die. If they stay, they'll die. Die, die, die, die, die.

But maybe not. If one of them _must_ die, then….

"I could give you time to escape," Barriss whispers. "I could use the Force to slam one of them into the other two and then they would focus on me. I'll be the distraction while you and Ahsoka run."

Riyo's gold eyes narrow and her mouth thins. "Respectfully, Master Jedi, that's an unacceptable plan."

Barriss resists the urge to sigh. The unmitigated arrogance that people have when they reject something without suggesting an alternative will always test her patience. It is Barriss' responsibility to get Riyo out of here alive. She is the expert, not Riyo. If this is the best course of action, which it is, then that's what they'll do. And if it means that she should fall, then perhaps that is for the best. The weight of her lightsaber is already conspicuously absent from her belt, and it could be anywhere by now. Does the Jedi make the lightsaber, or does the lightsaber make the Jedi? Who is Barriss if she isn't armed?

Better to be useful here and now, than to drag her empty husk back to the Temple.

"What other choice do we have?" Barriss asks.

"Give me a moment and I'll produce one for you." A strange look flickers over Riyo's face. Fear and resignation disappear as quickly as they appear until she clenches her jaw.

"You have a plan?" Barriss asks. "How do you have a plan that quickly?"

"It was plan Grek, which is the only scenario that gets all of us out of here alive and relatively intact."

"How many plans did you—wait, never mind. What is this plan?"

"You have to wake up Ahsoka first, then work with her to unlock both of her cuffs. Free her first, all right? Free her and she'll do the rest. I'll make a distraction."

"What? Riyo, they'll kill you."

"That will take six seconds. Maybe seven if I'm feisty enough."

By the Force, she planned down to the second? "Let's talk about this more. There's got to be another way."

Riyo wriggles upright. "There is no other way. And it's got to be now before I lose my nerve."

"Wait, stop!"

But the smaller girl is already hopping away. The Wolf looks up at her and points.

"Ay! Bambambe!"

"Nceda," Riyo shouts. "Nced-ah!"

The Lion and the Leopard drop their shovels and run after her. They scoop her up, but she twists around and kicks until she falls out of their hands, landing onto the ground with a muffled thump. They try to stop her again, and it devolves to a fight.

"Eish! Uyandila!" The Leopard pulls away and makes a fist.

Barriss sends a frantic nudge through the Force. "Ahsoka? Ahsoka, wake up! Ah!"

She rolls away as Ahsoka roars and lashes out, her manacled fists whistling past her head.

"Stop! Stop, it's me."

Ahsoka's eyes clear as she focuses on Barriss. "Uh, Barriss? Where are we? What happened to us?" Her words slur into each other.

"I don't know, but we have to unlock your cuffs." Barriss winces as Riyo screams.

Ahsoka's blue eyes darken. "Is that Riyo?"

"Yes, it's Riyo. She's in trouble and you need to focus if you want to help her. You free your hands, and I'll free your feet."

The Wolf reaches into her coat and brings out a blaster. She aims it at Riyo.

Barriss closes her eyes and reaches out with the Force, inspecting the lock on Ahsoka's cuffs. She can see the mechanism in her mind's eye. She can see the tumblers and how they turn. Barriss takes a deep breath and turns her hand.

CLICK.

Both of Ahsoka's cuffs fall open with a loud clatter. The masked people turn to look, leaving Riyo huddled on the ground.

Ahsoka rises like vengeance, tall and broad, her upper lip curled in a snarl. She reaches up and tears through the ropes as if they were flimsi and lets them drop to her feet, useless.

The Lion and the Leopard shrink away from her, but the Wolf aims at her and fires.

PEW PEW.

The first shot misses and whizzes past into the forest, and Ashoka simply ducks the next. She rushes forward and punches the Lion in the gut, lifting him a foot in the air.

"Kark!" The Leopard turns and runs into the trees, screaming.

"Ay! Buya!" The Wolf shouts. She fires again, but Ahsoka simply uses the Lion as a shield. She Force-banishes the Lion at the Wolf and then chases her into the forest. The sounds of blaster fire and panicked shouting fade away as they run off.

"Riyo!" Barriss shouts as she frees herself. She straightens her hood as she stands up and almost trips over her shackles, but kicks them away, then rushes to Riyo's side and gently rolls her over onto her back. "Riyo?"

A dark purple bruise is already forming around Riyo's eye and her clothes are covered in pine needles. She's trembling. Barriss unlocks the cuffs and tosses them over her shoulder and as she does this, Riyo's hand comes up and grabs onto Barriss's cloak.

"That was so scary," Riyo whispers. Her eyes are glassy with tears.

Barriss covers Riyo's hand with hers. "Never do that again, alright? Ahsoka and I are supposed to protect you. Let us protect you."

"Right. You're right. That was stupid of me."

Guilt wells up within Barriss. "But then, you wouldn't have had to come up with such an absurd plan if Ahsoka and I were doing our jobs as we were supposed to."

Riyo's frown deepens. In the pause, the faint crackle of a lightsaber blade joins the pop of blaster bolts.

"I'm going to treat you now," Barriss says.

"Okay."

Barriss takes a deep breath and lets the Force well up within her. She releases it in a gentle stream as she lightly traces Riyo's bruise with a fingertip, easing it away until no sign of it is left. She moves down to deal with another bruise on her arm, and then on to another one on her knee. Injuries are easy to sense when she's open like this. The Force is supposed to flow through the universe like water, but doesn't pass through injuries. The energy is stymied.

When Barriss opens her eyes again, it's to find Riyo looking up at her in awe, her mouth slightly agape. Barriss' stomach does a funny flip and she clears her throat.

"You're all set." Barriss takes Riyo's hands and pulls her back on her feet.

"Thank you. Are you all right?" Riyo asks.

"Pardon?"

"It's what you said earlier. You know that whatever happened to us, it isn't your fault."

Barriss drops her gaze and stares at their clasped hands. Riyo is warm, warm, warm, even in the Force, and her concern is palpable. Barriss lets go.

"No. Ahsoka may be able to say that; she's a padawan. Whatever went wrong, it's my responsibility."

Riyo slowly drops her hands her side, frowning. "You think you failed this mission."

Barriss can't help but wince. "I've never failed anything before."

"There's your problem. You think this mission's over. It's not."

"Please explain."

"If I recall correctly, your job is to keep me safe."

Barriss scoffs. "We're out in the middle of nowhere. You almost got killed."

"Yes, and you patched me up. I'm with you and Ahsoka. I'm safe," Riyo says. She says this with so much conviction that Barriss finds it hard to argue further.

SNAP.

Barriss and Riyo turn at the sound of a snapping twig, but there's only darkness. Barriss steps in front of Riyo and raises her hands. She doesn't have a lightsaber, but that doesn't mean she can't fight.

"Show yourself!"

There's a green flash of pupils before Ahsoka emerges from the trees. "It's just me."

Barriss releases a long breath and lowers her hands. "Are you all right? You're bleeding."

There's a shallow scratch on Ahsoka's cheek. Barriss steps closer, but Ahsoka turns away.

"I'm fine."

"Ahsoka…."

"Barriss. Stop." Ahsoka's hardened voice stops her in her tracks, and the Force Bond closes off as if by a durasteel door. Barriss lowers her hands again, this time reluctantly.

"Are they still out there?" Riyo asks.

"One hopped into a speeder and drove off. But I was able to get our lightabers from him before he escaped." Ahsoka holds out Barriss' lightsaber.

"Thank you." Barriss takes the lightsaber with both hands and stares numbly down at it. Of all the things that Barriss has asked of Ahsoka, the only major thing she refused to do was facilitate Barriss's own destruction in that medical station. She didn't even realize how aware, or conscious, she was of the Force Bond until it fell inert just now. It's jarring and unnerving, and while Barriss wouldn't describe herself as feeling very strongly about most things (it's rather un-Jedi to be so opinionated) she greatly dislikes this. Fear, stronger than the fear of their predicament, eats into her.

There must be some way she can help Ahsoka, and she'll find it eventually. Barriss clips the lightsaber onto her belt.

Ahsoka reaches into her parka and pulls out an old bowie hunting knife still in its sheath. "I couldn't find your wallet, or your hair thingies, but I found this."

Riyo gasps and pats herself down. "Gods, they robbed me. Thank you, Ahsoka!"

The stripes of Ahsoka's lekku darken, and her voice softens the way it usually does when Ahsoka talks to either of them. "Sorry, I couldn't find more."

"Nonsense, everything else is replaceable. It's a miracle that you found anything at all." Riyo accepts the knife and clutches it to her chest.

"Is that knife important?" Barriss asks. According to her research, all Pantorans are armed with knives, but she's never seen Riyo with that particular one. On Coruscant, Riyo keeps a much smaller, decorative knife tucked into the waistband of her skirt. Where was she keeping that monstrosity? It must be longer than her forearm.

"When the Gods send you a blessing, you better be prepared to receive it." Riyo tucks the knife into the waistband of her shirt.

"That doesn't sound ominous at all." Ahsoka looks down at the dead lion-masked man, then takes a handful of the front of the body's shirt and drags it over to the grave, where it drops in with a muffled thump.

"Should we, uh, bury him properly?"

"We don't bury our dead, we drown them," Riyo says. Ahsoka's eyes widen.

"Cool. We're not doing that. Different question: where are we?" Ahsoka asks.

"I don't know," Barriss says.

"None of us know," Riyo says.

Ahsoka swears in Huttese.

"Judging from the flora around us, we're still on Pantora," Riyo says.

"Okay! That's good. We can work with that," Ahsoka says.

Riyo cringes. "It actually might not be okay. Winter is about to start and we can't be out here. Pantoran blizzards are brutal."

Barriss sighs. "And if that isn't enough, someone wants us dead. Whoever did this hired these men and was connected enough to know where and when to ambush us."

Ahsoka shrugs. "Whatever. Bring it. I'm not worried about the guys after us. We just beat three of them and we'll fight whoever else wants some."

"I agree. I'm not worried about whoever dropped us out here, I'm worried about where we are. We're not just stranded in Pantora, we're stranded in the Pantoran countryside," Riyo says.

"You mean we're in the Taiga? Is it really so bad?" Barriss asks.

"Yes! Welcome to the Pantoran Taiga, Master Jedi. There's more danger than you realize."

"Cool." Ahsoka says. That's all she says. Riyo gives her an incredulous look.

Ahsoka gives a halfhearted smile. "Listen, Riyo. We said we'd keep you safe and we will. We have our lightsabers and we have each other. Whatever this place can dish out, the three of us can totally handle it. Right, Barriss?"

"Right! I suppose…."

"Barriss, please! I'm trying to be optimistic. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get back to the Summit."

"The Summit! That must be why we're out here. Someone must be trying to sabotage the Summit," Riyo says. She begins to pace. "We need to contact Sprekker about a possible saboteur. He'll know what to do."

Ahsoka smiles. "All right. This is your planet, Riyo. Do you know enough about it to lead us back to civilization?"

Riyo stops pacing and turns to them, her face set with determination. "Yes, I do."

* * *

Note Bene: This is a short chapter, because the material that I'm basing this story on is pretty formulaic and the beginning part in the source material is rather short. It picks up though. I promise. I'll tag what kind of AU this is eventually, but I kinda wanna see who catches on to what this story is.

I read that the Clone Wars crew intended the Pantoran/Talz conflict to be inspired by Apartheid, so in this story, Pantoran culture is loosely inspired by both Xhosa and Inuit cultures. The Pantorans are speaking Xhosa.

Writing Barriss wax poetic about her deficiencies was a trip, let me tell you. Like, how sorry for yourself do you really feel, Barriss? Please tell us.

There isn't anything much about Shili, so I get to imagine it as Space Australia and invent a history for it loosely based upon the Moro Rebellion. Let's be real, the only way a system could successfully hold on to neutrality between the Republic and the Separatists is if they're too damn scary and powerful to be messed with. The only reason why the Kiros colonists got abducted was because they tried being pacifists on top of being neutral.

I have a Tumblr, by the way: Artyblogs. Check it out.


	2. Reindeer Ridge

Multi-colored ribbons of light arc across the night sky, partially obscuring the stream of stars. Riyo leads the way through the forest, her face upturned towards the sky. She's using the stars to navigate to the coast because once they reach the coast, then they'll find civilization, and once they find civilization, they can make their way back to Defiance, Pantora's capitol city. Hopefully, it's a solid enough plan to mollify Barriss, who has been exuding a quiet anxiety since they woke up out here.

Riyo has tied her suit jacket around her waist and wrapped her button-up shirt around her head to protect her hair and ears. This means that she's essentially hiking in just a tank top and a skirt, but while it's uncomfortable, it's not unbearable. Her people are notorious for their metabolism, pumping out enough body heat to survive temperatures south of -50 degrees. Before she moved to Coruscant, her father would regularly take her and her sisters out camping in places like this, so this isn't anything new. It's just a little different, because of the Jedi.

There must be some Jedi thing that tells Barriss and Ahsoka that something is wrong, because they get despondent when they think no one's looking, and they both sneak worried glances at each other. They reach out unprompted, but they refuse to talk about it when faced with an opportunity to do so. Take this hike for example. Riyo has listened to them go through this painful and delicate dance no less than five times while leading them through this forest, and every failed attempt to vent just riles her ire further. She's going to go prematurely gray worrying about these Jedi. Watch.

But what infuriates her most of all, more than the tightly-contained angst, is her powerlessness. No matter how much Riyo may care for Ahsoka and Barriss, and no matter how much she may want to help them, she is an outsider and can do nothing but watch this war grind them to a pulp.

Within one minute of walking into a place, Ahsoka will have cased the area well enough to place herself in the most advantageous spot, where she can see all the entrances and exits. Riyo knows this because she sees Ahsoka's eyes flicker the same way her army veteran uncle's does. New people, new places, all of them are appraised. And whenever Riyo sees Barriss again, she always wonders if she's eating. While Ahsoka has beefed up in her absence, Barriss has only gotten weedy.

If they asked, Riyo would help. To do what, she doesn't know, but whatever it would be, she would do her best to fulfill it. Anything. Anything at all. Mother Moon knows they'd deserve it, and that Riyo would gladly provide it too.

Riyo takes another deep breath. This again. She shouldn't conflate her will to be a good friend with…what she wants. It's too dangerous.

To pass the time, Riyo asks them for rhyming words, and after a few minutes of this, Barriss asks,

"Can we hear what you've been working on?"

"It's not ready yet," Riyo says.

"Can we hear it anyway?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo takes a deep breath and begins to speak.

_Let me float  
__Don't call me home yet  
__Let me float  
__I'm not done here yet_

_We try to bail while You sink our ships  
__We try to tread while in Your grip  
__But You drag us down into the deep  
__And put us all to sleep _

_Still, I keep to the tide as it ebbs and flows  
__Even as the water laps at my toes  
__I wade right in and swim  
__'cause You take me away from the trouble I'm in_

_Keep me buoyant, keep me afloat  
__Bring me fish and bring me a boat  
__Take me to that destined port  
__And never vex for sport_

"It's really short, but that's the idea," Riyo says.

"She used a lot of your suggestions, Barriss. You must be really good at it too," Ahsoka says.

"Master Unduli insisted that I study the art. She was formally trained." Barriss taps her chin. "That's why she has tattoos here. But I'm not as inclined."

_Sure, Barriss,_ but Riyo doesn't comment aloud. She pauses in a clearing and looks up at the brightening sky. The stars are fading, and she struggles to get her bearings one last time before the sun fully rises.

Barriss turns to Riyo. "Are you allowed to be so conflicted with your gods? I was under the impression that they would demand absolute reverence."

Riyo thinks back to when she received her tattoos. To distract her from the thrumming of the needle, the priestess would tell her stories about the Gods and what they meant. "I've never thought about it like that, but no. It's not like that at all. The Gods indulge us and we indulge Them because Mother Moon asks us to. What about you? Is the Force so needy?"

Both of the Jedi are silent, and Ahsoka's face even screws up in thought. Riyo resists the urge to squirm and hopes that she hasn't overstepped. For a minute, the only sound is the crunch of ice under their boots.

"Is it the Code? Is that how we worship the Force?" Ahsoka finally asks. "I feel like that isn't really right. Where does it start?"

"You'd be correct," Barriss finally says. Riyo releases a breath she didn't know she was holding, and Ahsoka gives a small smile.

"I knew it! Because the Code had to come from somewhere."

"We serve the Light Side of the Force by striving for peace. Peace within us and peace in the environment around us. That's really what all of it boils down to. The Code was developed to guide us in how we should implement that peace, and therefore how we should worship the Force." Barriss hesitates, then continues. "However, I've recently learned that for all of the reverence we hold for the Code, it's really just a guideline."

Ahsoka blinks and turns her head a little, as if struck. Barriss turns away, immediately ashamed. Riyo frowns, but doesn't press further. Whatever just happened, they can always talk about it later.

Ahsoka looks off into the distance. "Do you hear that?"

Riyo could kiss her for the change of subject, awkward though it is. Barriss must feel the same way; her shoulders slump in relief.

Everyone stills and strains to listen. Barriss and Ahsoka step nearer to Riyo, as if shielding her.

The noise of deep grunts and heavy footfalls come nearer and nearer until out of the gloom come a herd of oversized elk. They're enormous creatures, more than two meters tall at the shoulder, and shaggy with fur. Some of them have wide, sweeping antlers as long as Ahsoka is tall. They crush the undergrowth beneath their heavy hooves and the sharp points of their antlers scrape against the tree trunks and branches as they come through. Ahsoka grabs Barriss and Riyo and pulls them behind a wide tree to keep from getting trampled.

The three of them press against the trunk and hide their faces from the shower of broken twigs and pine needles while the herd passes. Hundreds of elk thunder past them, all huddled so close together they might be one mass, snorting and bugling and making the ground tremble. Riyo blindly gropes for Ahsoka's hand and holds tight.

Eventually, the herd thins out until it's only the odd straggler here and there. Ahsoka eases away from the tree and looks around it.

"They're gone. Well, most of them anyway," she says. She points at an oversized doe grazing what's left of the meager grass.

"Eish! We could ride it to the coast," Riyo says.

Ahsoka grins at them, then turns to the doe with her arms spread ride. "Hey," she coos.

The doe starts, her large black eyes wide with terror.

"Woah! Whoa, whoa." Ahsoka coos again. While the doe settles down, she still stays a little bit away and her ears stay flat against her skull.

"Are you using the Force to tame it? Is that a thing Jedi can do?" Riyo asks.

"I _am_ using the Force. Why isn't it working?" Ahsoka asks.

Barriss giggles, then covers her mouth with a hand and gives Ahsoka an apologetic look. "It's probably because you're an apex predator."

Ahsoka's mouth forms a silent 'o.' "I guess there are some things the Force _can't_ do."

"Let me," Barriss says. Ahsoka nods and slowly retreats. Barriss takes a few careful steps towards the doe with outstretched hands.

The doe tosses her head and snorts, her breath coming out in a cloud of vapor, but doesn't run. Barriss persists, murmuring, until the doe lowers her head and nuzzles her palm. Amazing.

"Good girl," Barriss whispers. She strokes the doe's large nose. "Will you let us ride you?" She beckons to Riyo and Ahsoka, who come forward. The doe steps back at the sight of Ahsoka, but Barriss soothes it again.

"Will she let us ride her?" Riyo asks.

Barriss is silent for a moment, then says, "yes, she will. Even, even the 'Wolf.'" She gives Ahsoka another look. "She means you. It's the closest equivalent she can find."

Ahsoka shrugs. "If it means I don't have to walk the rest of the way, then she can call me whatever she wants."

* * *

The doe proceeds through the woods at an easy gait, which is good, because Barriss doesn't think any of them know how to properly ride elk and would definitely fall off if it decided to go any faster. Riyo sits right behind her, with her arms around her waist. Now and then, she'll even tell Barriss which way to go, and Barriss will use the Force to tell the doe. Behind Riyo sits Ahsoka, whose arms are long enough for her to reach Barriss's shoulders.

This entire situation is…not unpleasant.

As they ride, the sky lightens shade by shade until the dark turns to deep purple. The trees thin out until they disappear completely, revealing a rocky ground and a quaint village in the distance. The houses are squat, with steep roofs to let the snow slide off more easily. They're all crusted with snow and ice, and thin streams of smoke are already wafting from some of the chimneys.

From behind, Ahsoka takes a deep, audible breath and lets it out in a contented whoosh. "Salt," she says.

Beyond the little village, hiding under a cracked sheet of ice, is the large expanse of the sea, and beyond that peaks the sunrise, throwing soft shades of pink into the sky. The three of them fall silent as they watch it, and even the doe slows down.

"Thank you, Friend," Barriss says. "You may leave us here if you wish."

The doe huffs.

"Should we walk from here?" Riyo asks.

"No, she wants to bring us into town," Barriss says.

The doe snorts and makes her way down the hill and onto a dirt path that leads into the village.

_Reindeer Ridge_, a weathered wood sign says. There are a few villagers out already, opening up some of the shops and places along the main road. They're rough; their clothes are worn, their hair is disheveled, and even their eyes are yellowed and glassy, but they smile and wave hello to them as they ride through. Some of them are strangely bloated. Ahsoka waves back before she slides off of the doe and helps Riyo and Barriss off. The doe dips down to nibble on a patch of grass just outside the general store.

A villager comes out of the store. His face is wrinkled and his tattoos have faded to a pale yellow. He talks to Riyo in Pantoran.

Riyo turns to him. "Ngentsasa ekuseni, uMalume. Ingaba uyasithetha Basic?"

"I do. Everyone does here." The man thumps his cane on the wood walkway outside the store. "You early, neh?"

"Early?" Riyo asks. Her brows crinkle together. "I'm sorry, you must have us mistaken for someone else. We don't have an appointment here. We're actually just passing through."

"Passing through? No, child. No one just leaves Reindeer Ridge."

There's something wrong with the man. Barriss' practiced eye picks up signs of illness here and there from the way he moves, and from the blemishes in his skin. He's very sick.

"Eish! You thieves!"

Everyone turns at the shout. A boy hardly younger than Ahsoka points at them from the middle of the road. He's dressed in furs and he rides an elk buck. Behind him are a few other boys also riding bucks, and between them they lead a familiar herd of elk. This herd crowds the road until they can barely see the buildings on the other side of the street.

"We didn't steal her, we found her in the forest," Ahsoka says. She brings her shoulders back to stand at her full height, spooking a couple elk away.

"You stole her! She's branded like the rest of them," the boy says. The other villagers come out of their homes at his shout. Riyo turns around and sinks her small hands into the doe's shaggy fur. She parts it, and there, on the doe's rump, is a brand. They must have not seen it in the dark.

"Oh dear," Riyo mutters.

"I've been looking for her the whole night!" The boy shouts again. The other villagers weave through the elk herd to see what all the commotion is about.

"Well here she is safe and whole," Ahsoka says back. She crosses her arms over her chest as she glares up at the boy. "You can have her back and we can leave."

"Leave? Leave Reindeer Ridge?" A villager asks.

"Who wants to leave?" Another says. The villagers begin to mutter amongst themselves.

Barriss steps closer to Riyo and places her hand on her shoulder. She can feel Ahsoka at her side, completing the triangle. Ahsoka tucks her hands under the hem of her parka, as if to draw her lightsabers.

"What do we do?" Ahsoka asks under her breath. "Should we fight them?"

"No, they're all sick," Barriss says. "Each and every one of them. Jedi don't fight sick people, they help them."

"Move! Move please!" someone else shouts from across the road. The villagers and even a few of the elk step out of the way of a tall, imposing woman. Her dark hair is long and plaited, and a shark teeth necklace hangs around her neck. A bandage is wrapped around what's left of her hand; she is missing all of her fingers save the first two and the thumb of her right hand, which is covered in a leather work glove. At the sight of her, Barriss's Force Sense squeals like a speaker emitting feedback. She winces and dials it back. Even Ahsoka shies away.

"What is going on?" The woman demands. "Why are you harassing these visitors?"

"They stole a doe, Chief," the boy says. "They admitted it too."

Everyone looks at the doe in question, who continues to graze as if nothing is amiss.

The woman looks down at them with deep and dark eyes. "You stole one of our elks?"

Barriss finds herself unable to talk under her gaze. It's as if her tongue is made of lead. She gently nudges Riyo with an elbow.

Riyo has been staring at the woman's hands, which is odd. It's not like Riyo to be so rude. At Barriss's nudge, she finally lifts her head, her face pale and solemn.

"We found the doe in the woods, Ma'am. We didn't see the brand in the dark, and we only thought to ride her here. We just want to get home. We didn't mean any harm."

She says all this in a careful, subdued voice. Barriss has never heard her speak like this, and she shares a look of concern with Ahsoka over her head. The woman draws herself up and hums.

"You still took the doe," she says. "And then you come into our village and cause a ruckus. You cannot just leave."

Riyo's fear spikes in the Force, and Ahsoka lowers a comforting hand onto her other shoulder.

The woman continues. "I am Chief Que-Malo. By the power entrusted to me by these good people, I find you three guilty of Theft. I find you guilty of Disturbing the Peace."

Riyo's jaw drops.

"And for these crimes, I sentence you…to a few hours of manual labor."

"Oh. That's it?" Riyo releases a sigh and wobbles a little, like her knees are going to give out. Ahsoka takes her hand and smiles down at her.

"That's it! Okay, show's over." The woman, Chief Que-Malo, shoos everyone away. "Jimi, get these elk out of my town, neh? Stop being such a pest."

The boy ducks his head and gestures to the others. They all start herding the elk through the village.

* * *

Despite technically being punished, and therefore criminals, the villagers offer them breakfast before they started working. In fact, they are so gracious and polite that Barriss forgets she is being punished. It's like they're guests instead.

Riyo gently turns them all down, then privately warns Barriss and Ahsoka not to eat anything.

"They're all sick. Do you think it's the food making them ill?" Barriss asks.

"No," Riyo says, and refuses to explain further. The three of them follow Chief Que-Malo down to the shoreline, where the Chief leaves them to their work.

There are a pair of docks stretching out from the shore of the village and out over the sea. There are two fishing boats moored to these docks; the other two are far off in the distance, bobbing in the waves. They're also marked by the flock of seabirds flying above them. Barriss, Ahsoka, and Riyo sit on the dock with a fishing net in piles around them. They begin to mend it.

The hours pass.

This fishing net is probably large enough to cover an entire grav-ball field, but between her, Ahsoka, and Riyo, they seem to be halfway through mending it already. They'll be done before the day is through and then they can all go.

Barriss absently pinches sections of twine between her thumb and forefinger as she moves the shuttle over and under to make knots. Beside her, Ahsoka works with an easy air, but Riyo is tense. Her movements are stilted and slow, as if her mind is far away.

"This place could use a doctor," Barriss says. "Have you noticed how many of them are injured? And the chief is missing most of her fingers."

"All of her fingers," Ahsoka says.

"Her right hand…."

"Prosthetics. You can't fool these eyes."

The three of them fall quiet once more. Barriss stares out at the ocean again. This village and the scene before her is so serene. So soothing. She can't remember the last time she was in a place like this. Not even the Jedi Temple on Coruscant is this idyllic.

"The wars haven't reached here," Barriss says. "There isn't anything to fight. No troopers. No droids."

"No slavery either," Ahsoka adds.

Riyo glances up at them. "Nothing like that here. Mother Moon would weep."

"Maybe," Barriss begins wistfully, but doesn't continue. Riyo glances again.

"It is tempting, isn't it? But we can't stay here."

Ahsoka clicks her tongue as her shuttle runs empty. She brushes the net off of her lap and gets to her feet. "Do you guys need more twine?"

"I still have a lot," Riyo says.

"No, but could you get a couple extra anyway? We might run out before we're done," Barriss says. Ahsoka nods and makes her way down the dock and back to the village. Barriss waits until she's out of hearing range, then turns to Riyo.

"She's not herself, surely you've noticed by now. She's not usually so…cold. Isn't there some way we could help?"

Riyo lowers her shuttle and is silent for a long time. Barriss flexes the soreness out of her finger and thumb as she waits.

"What do you know about Ahsoka's most recent mission? Did she tell you about it?" Riyo asks.

"She told me that she, Master Skywalker, and Master Kenobi were sent to Zygerria to turn the Zygerrian queen against the Separatists."

Riyo winces, but Barriss can't imagine why. Nothing she said was incorrect.

"Did…she tell you about her undercover role?" Riyo asks.

"She went as a slave."

"Have you ever been a slave? Or even posed as one? Have you ever interacted with one on any of your missions? Or even a former slave?" Riyo asks.

"No." Barriss has come across servants, and even indentured servants, but not slaves, and they aren't comparable at all.

"Then it'll be difficult for you—for both of us really—to understand. We can't possibly fathom the depth of cruelty Ahsoka witnessed and experienced on her mission, but we can understand that it did hurt her and change her."

"But she refuses healing."

"Yes, she has been saying 'no' a lot lately. I can imagine it's a luxury she wasn't afforded on Zygerria," Riyo says dryly. Barriss cringes. She hadn't thought about it that way.

"But with the power to say 'no' comes the power to say 'yes' too, neh?" Riyo continues. "All we can do is be there for her when she is ready to open up to us. It might not be what you wanted to hear, but that's what I got." She picks her shuttle back up and hooks her fingers into the mesh of the net.

Barriss tries to pick the work back up again, but finds it difficult. It really wasn't what she wanted to hear at all, but it doesn't mean it was wrong. If Ahsoka needs her to be patient, then patient she will be. But even as the worry for Ahsoka subsides, Barriss' mind goes to a different problem that's been bubbling for a long time now. She once tried to tell Master Unduli about it, but that ended poorly, and she advised Barriss to meditate on it. Meditate on it, and not talk about it. The Order is skittish about…disagreement. It wouldn't do for Barriss to seek help only for it to backfire.

But not telling anyone about it hasn't helped at all, and meditating on it only made it worse. If she doesn't tell anyone, then what will she do?

"Riyo?" Barriss asks, the name coming from her mouth before she can stop herself. But after an initial pang of terror, she decides that this is okay. Riyo is not Jedi, and so she won't report her to the Order. Above all, however, Riyo is her friend and if there is anyone who could help her sort out this mess, it's her.

"When we talked yesterday about how this mission is ongoing, what if that wasn't the real issue?"

"Then are you worried about how this is _the mission?_ The one that sets the tone for the rest of your career?" Riyo asks.

"Not even that. My reputation is beyond reproach." Out of anyone else's mouth, that might be considered arrogance, but from Barriss it's just the truth.

Riyo sets her shuttle aside and pushes the net off her lap. She scoots closer. "Then whatever you are worried about must be more serious than I thought. What's bothering you, Barriss?"

"I'm not sure I understand it myself."

"That's all right. We'll figure it out."

Barriss hesitates. "I am a knight now. You know this."

"Yes. Congratulations again, by the way. I don't know if you got the card I sent you."

"Thank you, it was very nice. But what if I don't deserve it? The knighthood, I mean." She rushes to explain at Riyo's sudden scowl. "No one is _saying_ I don't deserve it; it's quite the opposite. But what if _I_ feel like I don't deserve it?"

"Why do you feel this way?"

"Should I feel this way at all? So many people want this title. They work so hard for it and many of them never get it. How can I get a knighthood and then not want it?"

"So then because you don't want the knighthood, you feel like you don't deserve it?"

"Yes. It doesn't make any sense. All my life I've wanted to be a knight and now here I am and everyone tells me I'm a knight, but I don't feel like a knight. I should want this. I should want to train a padawan. I should feel some sort of vindication or completion, but I don't. There must be something wrong with me."

_The weak link in the chain,_ remains unsaid.

"Is that normal?" Riyo asks. "Is there a shakedown period for new knights?"

"No. Anakin Skywalker took to knighthood like a Gungan to water and everyone else seems so assured. So confident in their purpose and their tasks. I don't know how they do it."

"But it's not a question of skill; you're perfectly capable of it."

"Yes." Barriss says.

Riyo tilts her head and watches Barriss with a slightly furrowed brow. "So then it's something else. Forget about the other knights, forget about what they'd think; we're talking about you. Why do you not want to be a knight anymore?"

Barriss stares out at the sea as she thinks. "When I was a youngling in the creche, I'd see these knights and masters and they'd be larger than life. They would go out into the galaxy and help people and they'd come back and say 'oh, I toppled a tyrant the other day.' 'I solved a blood feud.' 'I helped build a hydroelectric dam.' Things like that. So I threw myself into my studies because I thought I'd be doing that."

"Peacekeeping instead of fighting in a war," Riyo softly says.

A maw of fear opens up in Barriss's chest, wide and dark. She shouldn't go further. This is wrong—it's _wrong_! If she truly is as good a Jedi as everyone likes to say, then she needs to stop. She doesn't know what exactly will happen if she continues along this vein, but she knows it's bad. She won't be able to return. It can't be undone.

"Barriss?" Riyo takes Barriss' hands in hers. "It's all right, look at me. Breathe." Riyo leads her through a slow, steady breath. Barriss's lungs fill, hold, contract, and as this happens, the whirlwind in her mind quiets down.

"Better?" Riyo asks. Barriss nods her head. "Good. Do you want to keep talking about this?"

Barriss shakes her head no. "I should meditate on it."

"Then it'll keep. Would you mind telling me what you find? I'd like to help."

"I don't mind at all."

* * *

It's early afternoon when Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo finish mending the fishing net. They're bundling the net in their arms and are about to carry it back to the village when Chief Que-Malo walks up the dock towards them, her heavy, weathered boots thumping against the dock.

"Thank you for your service! You are hereby released from duty. You can leave it there," the Chief says.

The three of them drop the net back onto the dock and untangle themselves from it. Riyo steps out to meet her.

"Ma'am. I was wondering if there was a comlink in the village we could use."

"There aren't any comlinks here; no comlink towers either. This place is as isolated as it gets." Chief Que-Malo gestures further down the coast with what remains of her right hand. "Bravado might have what you need. It's the nearest city."

"Brav-Bravado! I know that city! It's near Defiance," Riyo says. The Chief smiles down at her.

"That it is. Bravado is about a day's walk from here, and Defiance is an extra day beyond that. But I must ask, are you sure you want to leave?"

"Yes," Riyo says, to Barriss' dismay.

"Then I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors. We'll see each other again someday." The Chief steps out of the way so that they can pass, then goes over to the fishing net and begins to drape it over her shoulders.

"Come on, let's go." Riyo sets a brisk walk down the dock, and Ahsoka and Barriss hurry behind her. Halfway down, they hear a splash. Barriss turns to see the Chief gone and the fishing net trailing from the end of the dock into the water.

"She just jumped into the sea? Isn't the water too cold even for Pantorans? Wouldn't that kill her?" Barriss asks.

"Yes, it is, and yes, it would, if she were a regular Pantoran." Riyo walks even faster, if that's possible. She looks ready to set off at a run at a moment's notice. "Come on, Barriss!"

The three of them set off through the village, and while they put on smiles and wave goodbye to a few villagers, they don't slow down one bit. It's only when they're firmly away, and the village is a tiny spot in the distance, that Riyo stops In her tracks, wheezing.

"Why did we run?" Barriss asks. She's only breathing lightly. "We could have helped them! We need to help Chief Que-Malo out of the sea."

"No, we don't." Riyo puts her hands on her hips to help her breathe better. Her face is flushed.

"Riyo, you've been pretty tense ever since you seen the Chief. Why?" Ahsoka asks.

"And the whole 'don't eat any of the food' thing, was that just paranoia? We could have investigated if that was the cause of their illnesses," Barriss says.

"They're not sick, Barriss! None of the villagers were sick." Riyo takes a deep calming breath and continues in a whisper. "They're all dead."

Both Barriss and Ahsoka freeze.

Riyo continues. "They're already dead. They're all corpses. The Chief would have needed our help if she were a regular Pantoran, but she's not. You're right, Ahsoka. I've been afraid of that place the instant I saw her."

"You know who she is!" Ahsoka says.

"Who is she?" Barriss asks.

"The Sea Goddess, the Keeper of the Dead," Riyo says. She gestures down the coast. "We should go." She adjusts the shirt covering her head, then sets off. Ahsoka and Barriss give each other one last horrified look, then follow her.

* * *

Note Bene: Pantoran city and place names are reminiscent of USA Midwest small towns that are named after virtues, like Peace, Charity, Hope, etc. only Pantora's are much more edgy, culminating in a place called "Kark You Pay Me."

The Google searches done for this chapter include: Sedna, how to mend a fishing net, prehistoric moose, prehistoric deer, prosthetics in Star Wars, sports in Star Wars, and much, much more.

I also had to watch a certain miniseries for inspiration, but I'm not saying what it is because it's too big of a hint as to what the source material is for this story.

Please leave some feedback! I like to know if readers are having a good time.

I have a Tumblr, by the way: Artyblogs. Check it out.

And hey. Thanks.


	3. Kortzeer Speeder Repair

The coast alternates between icy beaches of coarse sand and pebbles, to jagged cliffs of black rock. They avoid the cliffs when they can, and when they can't, Ahsoka and Barriss use the Force to help Riyo climb over them. After the second set of cliffs, Riyo finds a land speeder road for them to walk along. The road is overgrown with grass, but at least it's flat. The further they get from Reindeer Ridge, the more relaxed Riyo becomes until she actually hums a little song. Now and then, a little tongue click escapes her as she mutters some of the lyrics.

Ahsoka smiles, but Barriss' eyebrows scrunch together. They've been doing that a lot lately, and Barriss' natural state just seems to be full of tension anyway, but this is different somehow. Ahsoka catches her eye and jerks her head back, and the two of them fall behind until Riyo's out of earshot.

"What's wrong, Barriss?" Ahsoka asks.

"Do you believe Riyo? About the whole Sea Goddess issue, I mean."

"I've seen stranger." Felt stranger too, if she remembers the entire Mortis debacle correctly. If the Force is capable of creating creatures like that, then It could do anything. If It could turn her into an deranged shadow of herself and then kill her and then bring her back again—mostly back anyway; something about her _must_ be different, even if she hasn't yet figured out how—then It could certainly create undead Pantorans.

Barriss looks askance at her, her blue eyes sharpening for just a moment.

"All things are possible through the Force," Ahsoka says and hopes that that's enough. Barriss sighs.

"I suppose you're right. The galaxy is a frightening place sometimes. It'd be foolish to limit what the Force could do."

A soft rumbling noise comes from down the road behind them, and Ahsoka turns her head to better hear. When it starts getting louder, Ahsoka hurries up to reach Riyo in time.

"Ahsoka, what's wrong?" Barriss asks as she follows.

"A speeder's coming," Ahsoka says. She takes Riyo by the elbow and gently steers her off to the side of the road.

"Should we hitchhike?" Barriss asks.

"Let's not. I'd prefer to not get wrapped up in more weirdness if I can help it," Riyo says. They keep walking until the promised speeder zooms past them. It's a pickup landspeeder, with scratches and dents all over. Large patches of the body have been stripped of paint completely and are growing a layer of rust.

The three of them watch it go in a cloud of dust kicked up by the hover engines. It dips down a sloping hill, then turns to the right and parks in front of a run-down garage. The sign over the top reads _Kortzeer Speeder Repair_. There's a Pantoran girl standing in the bed of a pickup speeder surrounded by a group of men. They're all purple in the face yelling at each other.

"Oh my," Barriss says. "Perhaps we should intervene."

"It looks pretty serious," Ahsoka says.

They make their way down the hill and towards the garage. The ground in front of it is packed dirt, with grasses growing here and there. There are a few other speeders parked haphazardly in this lot, all different shapes and sizes, but in similar states of disrepair.

It's a real shame they're the way they are too. Ahsoka's seen the same makes and models painted and pristine as part of collections and museums on Coruscant. Here in the Outer Rim, these junkers are probably all that the locals can scrounge up.

The Pantoran men are dressed in work clothes already dusted with dirt. Some of them wear wide-brimmed hats and slitted goggles to protect them from the sun. They scowl up at the girl, who is dressed in coveralls stained with engine oil and grease. All of them argue in Pantoran, all tongue clicks and rolling r's.

"What are they talking about?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo cringes. "The girl and her brother are mechanics who run this garage, but they're very behind on their queue. These farmers need their speeders to do their work, so they're understandably upset."

"So they just need an extra mechanic? Maybe we can help," Ahsoka says.

Riyo gently pushes through the crowd, and at her touch, the men fall silent and step aside until she's standing before the girl. Ahsoka and Barriss follow her, and the crowd parts even further upon seeing Ashoka.

"Awe usisi, ingaba uyasithetha Basic?" Riyo asks.

The girl, who really can't be much older than they are, looks down at Riyo in surprise. "Hah? I know enough, Snow Walker. What do you want?"

"My friends and I can help you with the shop. At least until the worst is done," Riyo says.

"Eish! Move on, you grifter. I can't afford to hire anyone."

"I should be clearer; we'll work for free, out of the goodness of our hearts."

The girl stares down at Riyo, then at Ahsoka and Barriss. "Yeah, dunno about that."

Riyo shrugs. "Okay, then I wish you luck with wrangling this crowd."

"Wait! Wait." The girl crouches down. "Please don't leave. I don't know how you got all these guys to calm down, but it won't last if you disappear."

"Come on, let us help you. What do you got to lose?" Ahsoka asks.

The girl sighs. "Yeah. Come with me." She jumps over the side of the speeder and lands on her feet, then gestures for them to follow her.

Unfortunately, the men break out into angry yells and try to follow them too.

"Whoa!" The girl changes direction and heads for the attached building instead of the garage. She leads them all into a small waiting room, complete with a receptionist's desk, and lowers the counter before the men can follow her much further.

"Can you read?" The girl gestures to a sloppy stack of flimsi on the desk. "My mum's supposed to take care of this stuff, but she never does."

"Yes." Riyo flips through a few of the flimsies and nods. "Seems simple enough."

The girl flashes a smile. "Enkosi! Come on, the garage is this way." She opens another door and Ahsoka follows her through, letting the door close behind her.

The garage is warm and dry and messy. The two of them pick their way over the parts and tools littering the ground until they reach a speeder suspended on a lift. A young, Pantoran man lounges in an oversized tire with his arm thrown over his face.

"This is why we're behind schedule," the girl says. She kicks the sole of the man's boot and ignores his tortured groan. "I'm Sanele, this is useless sack of bones is my brother, Vuyo. Awe, Vuyo! Speak in Basic; we have guests."

Vuyo gives a long-suffering sigh.

"He's the head mechanic. I do what I can, but it's not enough. I'm not trained, you see. My strength is more civil engineering." Sanele pulls on a pair of thick leather gloves.

Ahsoka takes off her parka, then fishes a pair of goggles from an interior pocket. "What's wrong with him?"

"He broke up with some girl earlier this week and he's been moping ever since."

At this, Vuyo finally stirs. He sits straight up on the tire, eyes blazing. "'Some girl?' I was going to marry her!"

"If she was so special, then you wouldn't have let her go so easily!" Sanele says.

"Eish! Help me out, stranger. When your mother tells you to do something, you do it, neh?"

"From what I understand about marriage though, shouldn't you be doing what your fiancé tells you to do instead?" Ahsoka asks.

"Ooh!" Sanele throws a grease-stained rag at her brother's head. "Suck it up, mama's boy! Now get off your ass and help us."

Vuyo grumbles as he gets to his feet.

All speeders, regardless of whether they are land or air, follow the same basic checkup routine. First, park the speeder on a flat surface and engage the parking brake. There is a lever underneath the dashboard that opens the hood.

Speeder engines are convoluted things, a tightly packed system of hoses and pipes. All of these moving parts require all kinds of fluids to run. So check the engine oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, and the coolant. Top these fluids off if the levels are too low.

Ahsoka pauses as a phantom wave of pain passes through her body. When it's over, she blinks and continues her work. Whatever Riyo and Barriss must be doing back in the waiting room seems to be working, because none of the men come back to bother them and when they release the speeders back to their owners, there are neat stacks of flimsies ready for the siblings to sign.

After the fluids are done, test the speeder lights and the horn. When replacing spent lightbulbs, it's important to handle the new ones with rubber gloves, and not with your bare hands. Any oil on the glass will cause the bulb to burn out quicker.

"Ahsoka?" Sanele waves a little to get her attention. "Can you help Vuyo take out the engine? I have to sign these flimsies."

One of the last speeders has a cracked belt in it, and in order to replace it, the entire engine has be lifted out. A harness has already been strapped around it to keep it from falling after it's been loosened and detached from the rest of the speeder.

"Sure." Ahsoka takes off her vambraces and sets them to the side before she joins Vuyo at the speeder. He slaps the business end of a power wrench into her hand.

"Our power wrench is poodoo, so I have to watch the power levels." Vuyo gestures to the thick cord connecting the power wrench to a small control panel. "Gotta start at max power just to turn it on, and then I have to keep moving the dial around to keep it from overheating _and_ to keep it from turning off."

"You should get a new one," Ahsoka says. She eyes the electrical tape wound around a portion of the cord. It's pulling apart, revealing the stripped wire underneath. A tool that temperamental would be scrapped in a heartbeat on Coruscant.

Vuyo shrugs and squats next to the control panel. "Can't afford a new one. Let me know when you're ready."

Ahsoka leans over the engine and touches the wrench to the first bolt head. "Ready."

VRRRRM.

The wrench jumps to life in Ahsoka's hands, but she's strong enough to keep it under control. The bolt loosens after a couple seconds and Ahsoka moves the wrench out of the way so that she can pull the bolt free. She tosses the bolt into a nearby bucket and goes to loosen the next one.

"Do you really think I shouldn't have broke up with my girlfriend?" Vuyo asks over the rumble of the wrench.

Ahsoka rolls her eyes. "What do you think?"

He sighs. "It's just…she's the first girl my mum hasn't chased off, so I thought, 'hey, maybe she's the one.'"

"She _what?_"

"My mum's hard to please, that's all. Her standards are high, so that's why she does the things she does. Like Sanele, she had a full ride to the Bravado Tech, but she didn't go because my mum said that the school wasn't good enough for her."

Ahsoka tosses another bolt into the bucket. She's kind of afraid to hear more, but doesn't interrupt. The Force is a stormy mess of sharp anger, fear, and guilt around him, but the more he talks, the more it seems to ease. The wrench trembles a little harder, and it heats up a little, but Ahsoka continues. Only a couple bolts more, and the engine can be lifted out with ease.

"And I didn't used to care that my girlfriends would leave, but when Zola was hurt, I was hurt. We made each other happy. She made me want to be a better man. Maybe I wasn't good enough for her."

"Uh, Vuyo? Buddy? Are you keeping an eye on that dial?" The wrench grows unbearably hot and Ahsoka wraps the handle with a rag. She can't drop it, however, because then it would whip around the garage and become exponentially more dangerous.

"Ah! Sorry!"

POP.

Ahsoka recoils as the power wrench sparks and crackles in her hand. Sparks fly out from the exposed bit of wire. Vuyo lunges to the side to unplug the tool, but not before it flies out of Ahsoka's grip and twists in the air, catching her right across the inside of her forearm. Ahsoka shouts a curse in Huttese and retreats to the other side of the garage.

The door to the waiting room flies open, and Sanele runs in, followed by Barriss and Riyo.

"Who shouted? What happened? Vuyo, what did you do?" Sanele asks.

Vuyo stares down at his scuffed boots. "The power wrench overheated again."

"Because you weren't focused on the dial, neh? Sidenge! You soft-headed fool!" Sanele's voice lowers to a dangerous whisper as she continues to berate her brother. Vuyo nods his head, and his shoulders slump.

Barriss makes her way across the garage towards Ahsoka, and when she nears, she slows to a stop. "Ahsoka? You're bleeding."

Ahsoka closes her mouth around a snarl and turns away. She's _hurt_ and she was powerless to stop it even though she _should have been able to_ and all this because she wanted to help! _What good is being a Jedi if all it gets her is shock collar around her neck?_

She takes a deep breath, then another, then another. The anger drains from her body, leaving behind exhaustion. There's a slight pressure on the Force Bond she shares with Barriss, like she's trying to get through, and Ahsoka eases the bond open.

What comes through is a gentle concern. Not for Ahsoka the Jedi Padawan Learner. Not for Ahsoka the Commander of the GAR. But for Ahsoka Tano, who is hurt and deserves help.

Ahsoka's breath hitches in her chest. She's been putting it off; getting treated. Perhaps it's because to be healed is to forget what happened and to move on, and Ashoka will never forget. How can she forget something so unfair? Evil even. And even if the Bacta soothes everything away, she knows that it won't be enough. There's an ugliness in her head and her heart that will linger far longer than any physical scar. The concept of healing sounds so dishonest.

But Ahsoka focuses on the Force Bond and the sheer amount of endearment that comes through. Riyo too, projects distress in the Force for her lack of mental shields. Ahsoka didn't think the both of them could care so much. Intense, yes. Staggering, definitely. There is so much waiting for Ahsoka if she would ask for it.

Barriss and Riyo will make it fun. They always do.

When Ahsoka turns back around, she finds that Barriss hasn't moved. She stands a few feet away, nervously wringing her hands. Beyond her waits Riyo, watching them both with thinly-veiled worry.

"Barriss, please," Ahsoka says. Surprise flickers through the Force, even as Barriss' face melts into relief. She reaches out to her.

"May I see?"

Ahsoka goes to her, and they sit on an unused bench. They're close enough for their knees to touch.

"What do you need?" Riyo asks.

"Water and a clean rag. Maybe a Bacta patch." Barriss frowns as she stares down at Ahsoka's forearm. Riyo turns and goes to Sanele and Vuyo, and after a few words, the three of them leave the garage. Barriss seems not to notice; her hands come up to cradle Ahsoka's forearm.

Barriss's hands are slightly cool. They're always slightly cool, and a little chapped, because of all the hand washing that Barriss is required to do, but it's soothing compared to the heated pain of her cut.

Ahsoka's fingers involuntarily curl as Barriss strokes a parallel line alongside the cut. It's already crusting over. Barriss pauses, then asks, "Am I hurting you?"

"No," Ahsoka softly says. Far from it, really. "I'm sorry for making you worry."

"Don't apologize for that. You're no trouble at all." Barriss looks up at her and swipes a thumb over her cheek. Warmth spills into Ahsoka through the touch, and she finds herself leaning into it. And after the scratch she got yesterday heals and the warmth fades, Barriss remains a vibrant beacon in the Force.

She also remains rather close, her blue eyes flickering over Ahsoka's face as if memorizing it.

"I found a Bacta patch," Riyo says. She's standing right next to them, holding a rag and a chipped bowl of water. Ahsoka wasn't aware she came back.

Barriss drops her hand and ducks her head. "Thank you, Riyo! How-how long have you been standing there?"

"Not long." Riyo's voice and face are too carefully composed; she probably thinks she's being merciful by answering so calmly, as if she hasn't seen anything. She'd be wrong. A dark blush spreads over Barriss' face, and Ahsoka's lekku burn hot.

Riyo holds out the bowl and the rag. "Your water, Barriss."

"Yes, thank you." Barriss takes the rag and dips it into the water, then wrings it out and begins to clean Ahsoka's arm. Thankfully, the cut isn't deep at all, nor is it long, and after a few wipes, Barriss leaves the rag in the bowl and takes a wide Bacta patch from Riyo.

"Why did you take off your vambraces, Ahsoka?" Barriss asks.

"It's best to not have anything on your hands when you're working with power tools," Ahsoka says. "No bracelets, rings, long sleeves, anything like that. If the power tool just catches skin, you could move away and might get a scar, but that's it. If the tool catches a sleeve, however, you wouldn't be able to escape, and you could lose the entire limb. If I was wearing my vambrace, I would have broken my arm."

"Well, I'm glad you're in one piece." Barriss peels away the sanitary wrap of the Bacta patch and smoothes the patch over the entire cut.

"What a good patient," Riyo says. The corner of her mouth quirks up. "Does she get a sucker?"

Barriss blushes all over again.

* * *

Ahsoka raises the garage door with her good arm and steps out into the crisp air. The sun is already setting, throwing beautiful ribbons of red and gold across the darkening sky. In the east, the sky brightens with different lights of green and purple, all veiling the pinprick of stars beyond. The dirt parking lot is mercifully empty of speeders, and Ahsoka's sharp eyes catch a loper scurrying near the grass line. The loper's coat is a patchwork of brown and white as its winter coat grows in.

"I'm sorry." Vuyo stands next to her, head bowed in guilt. Ahsoka looks down at her arm. The edge of the Bacta patch peeks out from within her vambrace.

"Thanks, man, but stang, I almost got my arm chopped off! All because you're hung up on your ex."

"I know."

"Your sister's right; if she was so important to you, then you wouldn't have broken up with her." Ahsoka pulls her parka over her head.

"But my mother…."

"How old are you?"

Vuyo blushes dark purple. "There's nothing wrong with doing what your mother tells you to do."

"Okay, but there's everything wrong with your mom telling you to do something that hurts you."

"She's right."

The both of them turn to see Sanele. She joins them outside the garage and jumps in order to reach the garage door. She pulls it down and crouches down to lock it.

"I should have never quit Bravado Tech." Sanele straightens up and turns to them. Her smile is pained. "Thanks for helping us, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka shrugs. "No problem."

"It's getting late, and it's not right to just kick you guys out after doing all that work. Our flimsi filing system has never been so organized. Do you want to join us for dinner?" Sanele asks.

"Sure."

Ahsoka, Sanele and Vuyo fetch Riyo and Barriss from the empty waiting room, then walk around to the back of the garage to the house. It's a single story, made of dark wood, and the yellow and purple sigils painted on and around the door are cracked and peeling. Sanele and Vuyo lead the way onto the creaking, sagging porch and open the door.

The inside of the house is simple. There's a kitchen, and a living room beyond. The furniture is old, but sturdy. Everyone huddles inside to get out of the cold and Barriss closes the door behind them.

"Umama! Sisekhaya. Uthetha ngesiBasic; sineendwendwe," Vuyo says.

"Hah?" A middle-aged Pantoran woman sits on the couch in the living room, watching the holoscreen. She glances up at them, then does a double take. She looks at the holoscreen, then back at them. Back at the holoscreen. The woman raises a remote and presses a button, turning off the holoscreen.

"You bring the Senator of Pantora into my house? How did this happen?"

"You're _what?_ Did I know that? I didn't know that," Sanele says.

Riyo pulls her button-up shirt off of her head and hurries to put it on properly. "I never mentioned it. I was Snow Walking, Ma'am."

"They helped us with the garage today, Umama," Vuyo says. "I invited them for dinner."

The woman shrieks. "The Senator of Pantora eating dinner in my house? At my table? Of course! Come in, come in." The woman gets up and bids them to sit at the round dining table, then hurries into the kitchen. She grabs a kettle and begins to fill it with water.

"My name is Mrs. Kortzeer. It's a pleasure."

"Thank you, Mrs. Kortzeer. These are my friends, Ahsoka and Barriss." Riyo dons her now-wrinkled suit jacket and sits at the table, followed by Barriss. The siblings disappear deeper into the house. Ahsoka sits down and leans into to whisper into Riyo's ear.

"Is it a thing for senators to write letters of recommendation?"

"Yes, it is. I do it all the time for my interns. Why?" Riyo whispers back.

"Sanele had a full-ride to Bravado Tech, but she dropped out to stay at home."

"Say no more." Riyo turns her head slightly to do a visual sweep of the living room. Whatever she must be seeing seems to convince her, and she nods. "I'll do it."

"What did you see?" Barriss makes the same sweep, but remains confused.

Riyo leans in very close, her voice barely audible over the sounds in the kitchen. "There aren't any holographs of Sanele in the living room. Only holographs of Vuyo and Mrs. Kortzeer."

Sanele and Vuyo come back out, dressed in clean clothes. Riyo straightens up and turns to them.

"Sanele, Do you have fresh flimsi and an envelope?" Riyo asks.

"Uh yeah. Why?"

"Because I'm going to write you a letter of recommendation for Bravado Tech."

Sanele's eyes widen. "You'd really write me a letter of rec?"

"Senator, you don't have to do such a thing," Mrs. Kortzeer says.

"Nonsense, it's the least I can do." Riyo waves it away and Sanele squeals and rushes back into her room.

Mrs. Kortzeer frowns, but busies herself in the kitchen again. After a few seconds, Sanele comes back out with a flimsi, a stylus, and an envelope. Riyo takes the things with thanks, and taps the end of the stylus against her cheek as she stares down at the blank sheet. Sanele sits down on Riyo's other side and leans forward to better see.

"Pantoran, neh?" Riyo asks. Sanele nods. Riyo hums and begins to write. Each stroke is calculated, slow, and sure, and the Aurebesh flows out in neat rows across the page. Now and then, she pauses and mutters under her breath as she composes the next part of the letter before continuing on. Ahsoka finds herself watching in fascination. Next to her, Barriss seems to be holding her breath.

"Her handwriting's better than yours," Ahsoka whispers.

Barriss frowns. "I don't worry about neatness when I need to write dozens of prescriptions a day, Ahsoka."

"Alas, I'm missing my senate stamp, but I suppose my com code and my datapad address will do if they need to verify it." Riyo finishes the letter with a flourish and folds it into thirds.

"Senator, really. You don't have to do this," Mrs. Kortzeer says again.

"Bravado Tech is a fine school. Many of my interns did their undergrad there." Riyo slides the letter into the envelope and seals it, then scrawls her signature over the seal. She hands the letter and the stylus to Sanele, who takes it and holds it to her chest. Her eyes are watery.

"Thank you!"

"Good luck." Riyo smiles at her.

The kettle whistles. Mrs. Kortzeer takes the kettle off of the stove and brings it to the kitchen table, where she pours them all cups of tea. Sanele excuses herself and rushes off to her room again, wiping her eyes as she goes.

"She won't go," Mrs. Kortzeer says, her voice hard. Vuyo stares determinedly at his cup of tea, and Barriss looks up in surprise. Riyo calmly stares up at Mrs. Kortzeer.

"That is not your call to make."

Mrs. Kortzeer purses her lips and goes back into the kitchen. Riyo quirks her eyebrows up and takes a sip of her tea.

"What an odd family," Barriss whispers. She frowns down at her cup of tea, but after swirling it around, picks it up and drinks it.

"We should go after dinner," Ahsoka whispers. The Force twinges as she picks up her cup, and she sniffs it, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. The Force must be warning her about Mrs. Kortzeer. "It's all farmland out here, right? Maybe we can stay the night in a barn or something."

"I agree." Riyo finishes her tea and sighs as she lowers her cup.

"Our neighbors have a barn. You could tell them we sent you and they'll put you up for the night; no problem. They're about a half-hour walk down the road," Vuyo says. He keeps worriedly looking back towards the kitchen.

Warmth spreads through Ahsoka's body from the tea, and she relaxes in her chair. "Thanks, Vuyo."

Riyo slumps onto the table, knocking her cup over and spilling the rest of her tea over the rough tablecloth. Vuyo curses in Pantoran and leaps away, his face pale. Barriss gasps and gets up too, knocking her chair over to get to Riyo. She presses a couple fingers against the side of Riyo's neck and waits, completely still.

"What's wrong with her?" Ahsoka asks. "Barriss, is she okay?"

"She's alive." Barriss holds a hand in front of Riyo's nose and mouth. "She's breathing. She's…." But Barriss sways dangerously and her other hand grips the back of Riyo's chair to steady herself. "By the Force, it's happening to me now."

The both of them turn to the cups of tea in horror.

"No!" Vuyo's face twists in anger. "Umama! _What have you done?_"

"Sit down, boy! You don't understand." Mrs. Kortzeer shouts. "There's a hefty bounty on all three of them, and we're going to bring them in alive."

"Umama, they're our _guests_. The Gods will curse us!"

"It's all over the holonet! The Gods have blessed us with this opportunity."

Ahsoka gets up and her knees almost give out from under her. Her vision swims and tilts and she blinks and reaches out to Barriss.

"You've the most mass out of all of us," Barriss whispers. She reaches out to Ahsoka to keep from collapsing. Ahsoka must lean down to hear her better over Vuyo and Mrs. Kortzeer's screams.

"What?"

"You can resist the poison longer. You've maybe one minute to get Riyo to safety."

Ahsoka looks down at Riyo, then at Barriss. "I'm not leaving you."

"You have to. You'll get further if you only carried Riyo." Barriss rag-dolls in Ahsoka's arms. Ahsoka pauses, amazed at what she just heard.

"No, I wouldn't." Ahsoka grunts as she hefts Barriss over her shoulder, then picks up Riyo and throws her over her shoulder too, draping her over Barriss. Her legs are jelly and threaten to pitch them all onto the floor of the house, where she'd definitely fall asleep regardless of her supposed poison resistance, and her vision is a smear of colors, but damn if she isn't going to get them all out. Ahsoka grabs her parka and Barriss's winter cloak with her free hand and slowly staggers out of the house, internally cursing all the way. Each agonizing step seems to take a thousand years, and takes so much energy, so by the time Ahsoka reaches the porch, she is reeling and exhausted and quietly panicking. How is she supposed to get them all to safety like this? Sanele appears before her.

"The speeder! Take them to the speeder, Ahsoka! We'll take you somewhere safe." Her voice is muffled, like she's underwater. She points, and Ahsoka shuffles in that direction until she reaches a pickup speeder.

The tailgate is down, and Ahsoka lowers Riyo and Barriss into the bed and climbs in herself. She takes Riyo and Barriss's collars and drags them up until they're all settled against the cabin of the speeder, amongst several packed bags. Vuyo and Sanele are yelling at each other in Pantoran as they load up the rest of the pickup bed with other bags. Vuyo throws a fur blanket into Ahsoka face before he lifts the tailgate and locks it into place.

"Use this!"

Ahsoka huddles down between Riyo and Barriss and tucks the fur in around all of them, then closes her eyes.

* * *

Ahsoka wakes up to a jostle. The pickup speeder must have been driven over a large stone in the road. The only source of light is the speeder headlights, and the world beyond is spooky and dark. Ahsoka groans and puts a hand over her face. She's got a splitting headache.

The cabin rear window squeals as it slides open, and Vuyo sticks his head out.

"Ahsoka? Are you awake?"

"No, I'm dead," Ahsoka says. She sits up against the cabin and turns to Vuyo. "What the kark did your mom give us?"

"A special poison." Vuyo sticks an arm out of the window to hand her a vial. "Here, this is the antidote. A couple drops of this will fix everything. Sanele swiped it before we left."

"Ugh, thank you." Ahsoka uncorks the vial and pours a few drops into her mouth, then looks down at Barriss and Riyo.

Alive. They're both alive. Ahsoka smoothes the hair out of Riyo's face, her fingers lingering against her heated skin.

"I'm sorry about my mother. I can't believe she'd turn you in for money. I can't believe she'd poison guests," Vuyo says. He's still in the window, watching her.

"It's not your fault." Ahsoka gently opens Riyo's mouth and pours a couple drops in, then tucks the furs in around her. She turns to Barriss.

Even in sleep, Barriss is tense. Her face is drawn in a frown and her shoulders tight with worry. All the concealed anxieties that she carries with her while awake bleeds through now, and Ahsoka doesn't need to pry the Force Bond open to know how Barriss feels.

Ahsoka carefully opens Barriss' mouth too, and gives her some of the antidote, then corks the vial again and gives it back to Vuyo.

"How does she have that poison anyway?"

"I don't know, but she would use it to punish us when we did things she didn't like." Vuyo pockets the vial.

"What? That's messed up."

Vuyo sighs. "Yes, Sanele and I are starting to learn that. Anyways, we're done. We've decided that we're better off leaving…all that. It's too much for us. Sanele will go back to school, and I'll find my girl. As for our mother, we've locked her in the house, but rigged the door to automatically open after 24 hours. That way she'll be okay, but it'll give us a head start to get our lives back together."

"Good luck," Ahsoka says.

Vuyo snorts. "Thanks, we'll need it." He pauses, then, "jokes aside, thanks for everything, Master Jedi. The three of you might have saved our lives."

* * *

EXTRA SCENE:

The farmers begin shouting again as soon as the door to the garage shuts behind Ahsoka. Barriss cringes as she steps back, leaving Riyo to face them alone. Riyo doesn't blame Barriss at all. Anyone would be intimidated by a crowd of angry men. It took a considerable amount of coaching and training for Riyo to get over her own fear.

_"Sit down! Sit down or I'll charge you double!"_ Riyo shouts in Pantoran. The men immediately stop and a couple of them step back. Riyo stares them all down until they retreat to the other side of the waiting room and sit down in the chairs. Barriss sighs and Riyo turns to find her flipping through the stack of flimsies.

Whatever script Pantorans originally used was scrapped a long time ago in favor of adopting Aurebesh, and while society has smoothly transitioned, it hasn't exactly improved the rate of literacy. A lot of these forms have 'xesh' marks on the signature lines.

"I can't read Pantoran, yet I might be more useful here than in the garage," Barriss says.

"You might be more help than you think. All of these forms are shuffled together and need to be sorted. If you can match the names here, then that'll do." Riyo points to the first line of the top flimsi.

A shadow falls over them both, and they look up to see an older man standing before them. His thin, greying beard grows down over his chest.

_"You can read."_ His voice is gravely.

_"Yes, sir,"_ Riyo says.

_"You're very pretty. Both of you."_

_"Thank you, sir."_

_"I have two sons."_

Well. That's something she hasn't heard before. Riyo turns to Barriss, who is already halfway through the stack of flimsi. The forms fan out in an arc on the table before her.

"What's wrong?" Barriss asks.

"Are you looking for a husband, Master Jedi? This nice man is offering us his sons."

Panic flashes over Barriss's face before she settles for a slight frown. "Alas, I'm hooded."

"More for me then," Riyo says, and Barriss gives a strangled noise. But when she turns back to the old man, she says, _"You're generous, Uncle, but we're not looking."_

* * *

Note Bene: I love that extra scene so much, because it's funny. I haven't had much chance to put some funny into this story so far and humor means a lot to me.

With the Pantorans speaking their own language, I do have to be careful with the point of view. Barriss and Ahsoka don't understand Pantoran, so if we're in their heads, we can't understand it either. If characters are speaking Pantoran, and it's important that we know what they're saying, then I need to write the scene from Riyo's point of view, and then format the dialogue to differentiate between Pantoran and Galactic Basic.

That said, some people just shouldn't be parents. But enough of that.

Have a guess as to what this story is based on? Tell me! Got some feedback? Tell me that too!

I have a Tumblr, by the way: Artyblogs. Check it out.

Thanks.


	4. Bravado Wharf

WARNING: If you are sensitive to the butchering of animals, then it might be best for you to skip this chapter.

* * *

Riyo wakes up to a blackened sky. She's lying in the bed of the pickup speeder, pressed against Ahsoka's side and covered in a shaggy, fur blanket. Pillowed under her head is a soft duffel bag.

"Hey," Ahsoka says in a low voice. She turns her head to talk into Riyo's ear and tells her what happened with the tea. While she talks, the roads become paved, so the ride is smoother. The road becomes lined with streetlights hanging from wires held aloft by wood posts.

Ahsoka's voice is soothing and despite her initial panic at waking up in a strange place, Riyo finds herself relaxing against her. Her fingers catch in the folds of Ahsoka's dress and she snuggles closer.

"Barriss hasn't woken up yet, but I think she's okay," Ahsoka says. The both of them look at Barriss and find her almost covered entirely by the furs save for her pale green forehead.

Riyo slowly reaches across Ahsoka to Barriss, towards her face, and soon she feels a deep, gentle breath against her hand.

"Yes, she's asleep." Riyo withdraws her hand. Ahsoka's arm snakes around her waist and pulls her in closer, and Riyo presses her cheek to Ahsoka's lek. It's toasty under the furs. Cozy. Ahsoka is a solid and safe presence next to her.

Riyo sighs. "Thank you for saving my life. Our lives. I should have taken my own advice and not drunk the tea."

"You didn't know Mrs. Kortzeer would be like that," Ahsoka says.

The dark tree line whizzes past as they zoom down the highway. Now and then, they pass by a homestead, and the beams from the houselights cut across the pickup bed. It's quiet and peaceful, but Riyo is too wired to sleep. Ahsoka might feel similar, for she's still wide awake. Her hand lifts from Riyo's waist and goes to her back, where her touch is light and fleeting, and Riyo realizes that she's playing with her hair. Riyo turns her face in to Ahsoka's lek to hide her smile.

"Sorry, I should have asked. Should I stop?" Ahsoka asks. Her face is so very close to hers. If Riyo turned her head….

If she turned, what might happen?

A pit of longing opens up in Riyo's chest.

"No." Riyo doesn't know if Ahsoka's doing this on purpose, but at any rate, she probably should have figured before now that Ahsoka would be fascinated by hair. Ahsoka grins and continues, testing the weight, how it falls. It's oddly comforting.

Ahsoka has always been rather uncharacteristically free with physical contact for a Jedi. She holds Riyo's hand, or touches her arm or her shoulder. She'd stand close and even place a hand on the small of Riyo's back to usher her through places. And while it's easy for Riyo to explain it away as platonic, sometimes she'll catch Ahsoka's eye and find a tenderness in her gaze that can't be dismissed so easily.

To read too much into it would be too dangerous, however. That path would only lead to pain. Best not to dwell on it.

"Ahsoka?"

"Yeah?"

"When we woke up in the forest, before we got away from our abductors, Barriss suggested that she sacrifice herself to give us a chance to escape."

Ahsoka's hand stills, her fingers curled around a lock of Riyo's hair. "Oh? She did that?"

"You don't sound as surprised as I thought you'd be."

"She's done that before. I don't know why she defaults to that when things go bad."

"She defaults to sacrificing herself," Riyo repeats, astonished. Never mind going gray, these Jedi are going to steal years off her life. She might as well save time and walk into the ocean right now, or go back to Reindeer Ridge. One of her fellow senators, Padmé Amidala of Naboo, is notorious for being close friends with two Jedi. Is this how she feels all the time? Is this what it's like? How does she do it? How? _How?_

Perhaps they can convince Barriss to stop doing that.

Ahsoka snorts. "I don't think it's something we can change about Barriss."

"You having fun reading my mind, Master Jedi?"

Ahsoka has the impudence to chuckle. "I don't have to read your mind, Riyo. Your anger _radiates_ through the Force."

"Eish!" Riyo swears under her breath and playfully swats Ahsoka's shoulder.

For those heading to the coast, Bravado is the last major city before one reaches the Pantoran taiga. It's the last chance Snow Walkers would have before they head out into the wild, and there are many temporary Snow Walking tents set up along the street. At this time of night, there are only a few people out and about, all bundled up and hurrying home. The shop fronts are empty and dark.

"Everything's closed," Riyo says. She knocks on the cabin window and it slides open again. Sanele sticks her head out.

"What's up, Senator?"

"Is there a comlink around here we could use? Or a holo-cafe?"

Sanele gives her an apologetic look. "No comlinks, and no holonet access. Not open to the public anyway. The college is the only place where all that tech is held."

"What about a public archive? Archives have datapads."

"The archive used to have datapads, but they kept getting stolen, so they stopped replacing them. They're all gone now."

"How about a space port?"

Sanele shakes her head. "No moon-wide or galactic port either. There's a terminal with one ship, will that do?"

"You're the Senator of Pantora. They'd let you get on that ship. They'll let you use that comlink," Ahsoka says.

Barriss stirs, and the hem of the blanket drops from her face. She blinks.

"I'm alive?" She asks, her voice thick with sleep.

"Of course," Ahsoka says. "I'm not going to abandon you like that. I care about you too much."

"Oh." Barriss sounds genuinely surprised and touched, and Riyo is both appalled and somewhat offended. Did she really believe that they would just leave her? How could she expect that?

"Do you have your identichips?" Sanele asks.

"Unfortunately, no. Why do you ask?" Barriss asks.

Ahsoka explains their predicament.

"No one would believe Riyo is the senator without her identichip, and no one in their right mind wouldn't ask to see it," Barriss says. She stretches luxuriously, and Riyo's eye traces the arc of her lithe body even through the furs. When Barriss settles back down, she pulls the furs back up over the bottom half of her face.

It's the closest thing to relaxed that they've ever seen her.

"Good point," Ahsoka says, strangely subdued. Too nonchalant. Riyo wonders if it might be because she _felt_ Barriss stretch, instead of just watching her, and isn't _that_ a fascinating observation to make.

"At least Bravado is relatively close to Defiance," Riyo says.

"Yeah, if by 'close' you mean like a two-hour drive by speeder. We could drive you to Defiance, right Vuyo?" Sanele asks.

"No, no, no. You need to enroll in classes," Riyo says. "You need to make new lives here and you need to start tonight. It'll be harder for you two to find a place to live if we travel with you."

"But…."

"We will be fine. We'll figure it out." While the speeder is stopped at a traffic light, Riyo wriggles out from beneath the blanket and takes Sanele's hand in hers. "Thank you for helping us. We'll never forget it."

Sanele and Vuyo share a look, then Sanele smiles at Riyo. "No, thank you. You've given us a second chance at this. We won't let you down."

Ahsoka and Barriss take their parka and cloak and hop out of the pickup bed. Riyo follows them, and she lets Ahsoka pick her up 'round the waist and lowers her onto the ground. The three of them wave as the speeder takes off and turns the corner out of sight. Barriss pulls her winter cloak around her shoulders and does the buckles across her chest. Ahsoka shimmies her parka on and pulls her lekku though the hood.

"Their mom is a kriffing piece of work," Ahsoka mutters.

"Yes, well, tell me about it." Riyo walks across the street to reach the curb and continues down towards a kiosk. The map is made of faded, water-stained flimsi, and Riyo gets up on tip-toe to see better. They're in the touristy part of town, in the middle of restaurants, tapcafes and many souvenir shops.

A young man walks down the street towards them, and he comes to a stop a few meters out. He's nervous, and shifty.

Barriss steps closer to Riyo, her hands hidden in her cloak. "Can we help you?"

"Are you…my friends?" He asks, still nervous. He doesn't make eye contact with any of them.

Ahsoka frowns. "What?"

"Oh, sorry. I thought I knew you." He hurries around them and walks off, his hand hiding his face. The three of them watch him go until he disappears into the night.

"I don't understand. Wouldn't he know if he knew us? He wasn't under the influence of anything," Barriss says.

"He's probably looking for his dealer. You wouldn't happen to have death sticks on you, would you, Master Jedi? We could turn a quick credit." Riyo turns back to the kiosk as Barriss's jaw drops.

"Do we _look_ like _spice dealers?_" She shrieks. Off in the distance, a couple akk dogs start barking. Riyo laughs, then gives Barriss an apologetic look. Before she can answer, a growling, gurgling noise comes from Ahsoka.

Ahsoka's lekku stripes darken as she tugs her hood further down over her face. "I'm hungry."

Barriss worries her lip. "No identichips, no credits, and no credit chips…What are we going to do? Where are we going to stay? What will we eat?"

Riyo hums and taps a fingertip against the northern part of the map, where the wharf is located. She turns this way and that, looking around to get her bearings, then beckons to the Jedi and leads the way. Eventually, the duracrete and asphalt give way to aged wood planks, but the shops are more or less the same, albeit with more of a seafood and shipyard focus. Even in the yellow light of the street lamps, they can make out the colorful monikers: Seals, whales, and sharks carved out of wood, huge, stylistic anchors jutting from the roofs, and more purple and yellow sigils painted across the walls and the thick posts. All of it eerie for being so silent and still. No one else is around. No sign of life at all. The three of them make their way through the narrow wharf and a few decks full of picnic benches until they reach the end of the dock, where they're stopped by a guard.

The guard is dressed in a dark, fur cloak, and only has an oil lamp for company. He stands up from his folding chair and hefts a rifle against his shoulder, then raises a hand to stop them. His face is cast in shadow.

_"Please stop and return to your homes. The piers are closed until further notice,"_ the guard says in Pantoran.

_"Sir, all we want to do is fish,"_ Riyo says, but the guard raises his hand a little higher.

_"These piers have been closed, and they will stay closed for the rest of the week according to Count Mafoo's wishes. I'm sorry, Snow Walker, but you'll have to scrounge for food elsewhere." _The guard gestures out, and they all look to find more piers, all laid out in a row. At the end of each of them is yet another guard with another oil lamp. The guard glances at Barriss and Ahsoka.

_"Do you understand what I said?"_ He asks.

Barriss frowns. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Basic then. If you have a permit from Count Mafoo, I can let you fish and hunt."

"A permit? Local hunters shouldn't need permits to feed their families. Why has the Count closed the piers?" Riyo asks.

"The Count is gearing up for a feast, and has ordered his hunters to catch a hundred seals."

"A hundred! Whatever for? Is it for the upcoming Blizzard God feast?"

"The Count doesn't need a reason, nor does he need to justify himself to you, Snow Walker."

"But…."

"The pier is closed! Please leave," the guard says. Riyo finds herself being gently pulled away by Ahsoka and Barriss until they're out of earshot of the guard.

"We can find something else, Riyo," Barriss whispers.

"Yeah, I can hold out for a few more hours," Ahsoka says.

Usually, that would be acceptable, but this is Pantora, and there are _rules_ here. Riyo pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. "Pantoran oceans are not a _privilege_, Master Jedi, they are a _right_. Many Pantorans depend on the sea for their livelihood.

"And yes, Ahsoka, you may be tough enough to go hungry for a while, but there are many in this town who cannot; the very young, the elderly, the pregnant, the sick. Bravado in general needs food now; the people here don't deal with proper credits and don't purchase most of their food, they hunt and fish. They will not last long without the piers.

"Also, I'm hungry too," Riyo finishes lamely. She hopes it doesn't sound as whiny as she suspects, but judging by how Barriss' nose scrunches up, she must have sounded very whiny indeed. But she can't help it! Ever since Ahsoka's stomach growled, Riyo's own stomach has started gnawing on itself. If this goes on for much longer, she's going to find herself irritable as well.

Ahsoka chuckles. "Okay, come on." She walks back to the guard, who grips his rifle.

"Listen, I said…."

"Yeah, I know what you said, but _we don't need a permit to hunt_." Ahsoka slowly waves her hand on front of the guard's face. The guard pauses, his face growing slack.

"You…don't need a permit to hunt," the guard says in monotone.

"No one needs a permit to hunt. You're here to keep the peace."

"I'm here to keep the peace."

"We can pass."

"You may pass." The guard takes a few steps to the side as if nothing is amiss. "Sorry about that, ladies."

Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo all file past him, smiling. The guard smiles back, then sits back down in his folding chair.

"Follow me," Riyo says, and she goes to a ladder bolted to the side of the dock. She makes her way down until she reaches the thick, slippery surface of the frozen sea. She holds her arms out for balance and slowly walks across the ice beyond the range of the light from the guard's oil lamp, then keeps going. The lights give way to the aurora and to the stars. It's chillier out here somehow. A few logs have been frozen in the ice, along with half of a rowboat.

"Is this safe?" Barriss asks from behind her.

"Yes." Riyo points out to a few other hunters spread out across the ice. Each of them are bundled up and have their foldable stools and thermoses. Some sit near their ice holes with a club, and others have set up fishing poles. Riyo comes to a stop and crouches down, smoothing a hand over the ice.

"Here, there's a breathing hole already. All we need to do is widen it." Riyo steps aside as Ahsoka crouches down and brings both of her fists down in the spot she just indicated.

CRACK. The ice splinters into chunks. Barriss takes Riyo's hand and pulls her further away. Ahsoka growls and raises her fists again.

CRACK. The ice breaks cleanly, and Ahsoka digs her fingers in and pries the chunks out, effortlessly tossing them away. She reaches seawater about a third of a meter down, and she keeps working until the hole is wide enough for something to poke its head through. She sits back on her heels, breathing lightly.

"Is that big enough?"

"Yes." Riyo was going to use her knife, but this is much better. "By the Gods, Ahsoka, what do the Jedi feed you?"

Ahsoka grins up at them, her sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight. "I wasn't even using the Force either. It's all muscle."

"Well done. You've just expanded a seal breathing hole, so something should come up soon."

"Got it." Ahsoka draws her lightsaber hilt and squats down next to the jagged hole. She doesn't move.

"Let's go." Barriss tugs on Riyo's hand, and the both of them go to a log that's been half frozen in the ice and sit down.

"We could keep her company," Riyo says, but Barriss shakes her head.

"You won't get much out of her which she's in her hunting headspace. I remember on Geonosis: the Separatists kept shooting down our supply ships, so food was scarce. It got so dire that some of us hadn't eaten in a couple days. Then one day, Ahsoka covered herself in red clay—clay that she dug up herself, from under the sand—and went by herself into the desert. She didn't tell anyone where she went; we thought she had finally lost it. Master Skywalker and Master Kenobi were considering combing the planet for her."

"What happened next?"

"After a few hours, Ahsoka coms us. She said that she needed Rex to take a squad of men to her current coordinates so that they could clean up her mess. When they got there, she was gone, but they found a freshly-killed camel. And then while they're dressing the camel, Ahsoka commed again, with different coordinates. Master Skywalker went with another squad to that location and he found a dead antelope. This happened a few more times before everyone got…frustrated.

"While it's a big help, everyone's worried to death, so I decided to bring her back to camp. I noticed that these coordinates form a pattern, and I packed some supplies and go out to where I thought she'll go next."

"Did you find her?" Riyo asks. Barriss nods, then shrugs.

"She found me. She looked rather feral because by then she was covered in blood too. I tried to convince her to come back with me, but she told me that she was tracking something. But she might have felt guilty about being so much trouble, so she said that she would come back after one last kill. I waited in a cave while she stalked something.

"I waited for _two hours_ before she brought back a goat." Barriss pauses as she glances at Ahsoka, who still sits motionless next to the ice hole, as focused as a tooka on a songbird. "I have never seen her so patient, and I doubt we will ever see her as patient apart of a hunt."

Barriss looks down at their clasped hands. She hasn't pulled away after all this time, and while Riyo might like it for her own selfish reasons, she also guiltily wonders if Barriss dislikes it after all.

Maybe it's because they were almost abducted again a few hours ago and they need some reassurance. Maybe it's because of some other reason that Riyo doesn't dare figure out to keep from getting her hopes up, but Barriss doesn't let go. She doesn't let go, and even though it's inconvenient, she reaches across herself into her belt pouch and pulls out a heavy padlock.

"Did you take that from the garage?" Riyo asks.

"Sanele gave two to me after I asked to borrow one." Barriss turns it over in her palm and falls silent for a moment.

CLICK. The lock pops open. Barriss smiles and pushes it closed again. She reaches into her pouch again and pulls out the second padlock.

"Are you practicing, Master Jedi?" Riyo asks, fascinated.

"I won't be caught off guard again. Your risky plan paid off last time, but the idea of gambling with your life…it doesn't sit well with me. You matter too much, Riyo. To the Galaxy, to Pantora. And Ahsoka too. She has a master to return to, and she has the command of her men. If we lost either of you, we'd be poorer for it."

That's the nicest thing Barriss has ever said to her, and it's by far the nicest thing she's heard her say about Ahsoka. Riyo find herself softening at that.

"Thank you, Barriss. I must admit that I feel very similar about you."

Barriss straightens up and turns to Riyo. It's difficult to make out her face in the darkness, but to Riyo's dismay, she's bewildered. "Me?"

"You! Is that so surprising to learn that I care about you? That the thought of you getting hurt upsets me?" Riyo asks. If Barriss thought that her death was so insignificant, then it explains quite a bit.

Barriss doesn't answer.

Gods, Riyo hopes she isn't going to wreck everything by saying this next bit. While she respects how Jedi shy away from any sign of sentimentality, she couldn't quite forgive herself if she didn't say anything now.

"I always feel so relieved when you and Ahsoka come back from your tours, or when Ahsoka sends me letters. When we all have dinner together at some hole-in-the-wall restaurant. If I had to mourn either of you, it would destroy me."

Barriss covers her face with her hand and gives a breathy chuckle. She doesn't laugh often, so Riyo's not sure if it usually sound so strained, but she waits all the same.

"Then—then I suppose I'd better be more careful with myself, shouldn't I?" Barriss asks.

"That would be great," Riyo says. It comes out more sarcastic than she intended, and Barriss snorts and chuckles. This time, it's light and infectious and, emboldened, Riyo joins her. Soon, the both of them are laughing together loud enough that some of the neighboring hunters shout at them to quiet down.

* * *

An hour passes. Riyo removes her button-up shirt again and ties it around her head, and Barriss gathers her cloak tighter around herself. They huddle together, with Barriss's head resting on Riyo's shoulder. Around them, a couple hunters come and go, taking their gear and their food with them. In the distance, the piers and the guard oil lamps burn bright. Riyo keeps her eyes trained on Ahsoka, who still hasn't moved. She does this despite her encroaching exhaustion, because her gnawing stomach won't let her sleep otherwise.

"Why do they call you 'Snow Walker?'" Barriss asks in a soft, sleepy voice. She turns the locks over in her hands. "Sanele called you that, and you told Mrs. Kortzeer you were snow-walking too. It's not a slur, is it?"

"It's not. Snow Walkers go out into the wilderness to survive on their wits in order to worship and curry favor with the Blizzard God."

"The Blizzard God?"

"One of the gods of the major pantheon. He was the first Pantoran to murder another, and that is why He is the God of War. He did it to get back one of his stolen elk, and that is why He is also the god of Justice and elk. When Pantorans Snow Walk, they can stay in the woods, or they can travel down to the site of the first murder, like a pilgrimage of some sort."

"So you look like one of these Snow Walkers?"

"I suppose I do. I don't think I can truly call myself that though. There's a proper way to Snow Walk, and what we're doing isn't it."

"What would make it proper, then?"

"We'd need to be drugged out of our minds." Riyo bites her lip to keep from laughing as Barriss stares.

"You're not serious."

"I very much am." But Riyo's laughter dies on her lips as she spies a flash of green in the distance. Barriss gasps and scrambles upright.

"She did it!" Barriss grabs Riyo's hand and together, they make their way back to Ahsoka, moving as fast as the ice will allow.

Ahsoka stands up and uses the Force to levitate the seal out of the hole and onto the ice, then unceremoniously throws her arms out as she slips on the ice and threatens to fall.

"Whoa!" Ahsoka plants her feet firmly on the ice, then reaches up under her parka to clip her lightsaber back onto her belt. "Hey, guys."

"Eish! Come here, you big bruiser." Elated, Riyo reaches up and kisses Ahsoka's cheek, then turns to the seal. Ahsoka puts a hand over her face as her lekku stripes darken.

Riyo rolls the seal over onto its back and stands with one foot on either side of it. It's not the biggest she's seen; it's only about a meter long and maybe twenty-two kilograms, but it's still a pretty good catch. There's a thin, charred line running through the back of the neck where Ahsoka killed it, but it's otherwise intact.

"We could drag it back to shore and cook it," Barriss says, but she trails off when Riyo takes out her knife. "Er…Riyo?"

Riyo got this knife when she turned twenty last year. It belonged to her father, and her grandfather before him. Usually, knives like this are passed down to sons, but Riyo has no brothers, so she got it. Riyo places the blade of knife against the throat of the seal and pauses. If she's not careful, she's going to cut herself something awful.

KSHOOM. Ahsoka ignites her lightsaber again, washing everything in bright green light. She holds it aloft so that Riyo can see what she's doing.

"Thanks." Riyo smiles at her before focusing on the seal. It took many camping trips and many seals before she committed the entire dressing process to memory, and while she's spent the last three years on Coruscant, she still remembers it all.

Cut around where the flippers join the body of the seal, both front and back. Don't chop them off completely—that will come later—but just deep enough to cut through the pelt and the blubber. After that, cut across the neck to make room for the knife, then make one slice down the length of the belly.

The seal will open like a purse, revealing a thick layer of blubber. If the cut is deep enough, then it will also reveal the red meat underneath.

"That is a really sharp knife," Barriss says.

"Yes, it is," Riyo says.

"Have you cut yourself before? Like accidentally?" Ahsoka asks.

"I have gotten many gnarly cuts from this knife," Riyo says. But it was inevitable while she was learning how to do all this. Everyone who learns the art become familiar with emergency care wards, and if one were to look carefully at her hands and forearms now, they would see thin, light blue scars crossing through the net of her tattoos.

The three of them fall silent as Riyo renders the seal further down. There is a natural seam between the layer of blubber and the red meat. Cut the blubber away, one side at a time. Slits will need to be made through the pelt to free the flippers, but after that, the pelt will fall away. Roll the carcass from side to side to cut the rest of the seal free from the pelt, and when the seal is free, drag it away from the pelt and blubber to a fresh patch of ice.

The night is filled with the hum of Ahsoka's lightsaber and the creak of tendons and sinew as Riyo manipulates the seal carcass. Ahsoka watches with hungry eyes, and Barriss is entranced too, probably from a medical point of view. One of Riyo's friends studied to be a surgeon, and he once mentioned watching butcher holo-vids to better understand the spatial working of the body.

Steam rises from the seal into the cold air as Riyo chops through the cartilage of the ribcage. Her hands and arms are stained with dark purple blood, and while she's being careful not to be too messy, there are already some spatter stains on her clothes.

The blubber and pelt are a relatively clean place to place the harvested meat. Manipulate the front flippers to locate the shoulder sockets, then slice through until the entire limb, including the shoulder blade, is separated form the rest of the carcass. Chop off the flippers. Keep them if there is a way to further process them later, but discard otherwise. The back flippers can be harvested in a similar method.

There's a respectable amount of ready meat on the pad of blubber by now. Riyo straightens up to catch her breath. "Have at it, Ahsoka! You get first choice."

"Yes! Riyo, you're the best!" Ahsoka jams the hilt of her lightsaber into a crack in the ice, freeing her hands. She picks up a rack of ribs and bites down, tearing the meat from the bone. Barriss politely faces away from the spectacle.

"Won't this make it harder to transport it?"

Riyo looks up from the seal carcass. "Huh?"

"I mean, we could gather the pelt and the fat around the meat like a sack, but it'd still be messy."

"Oh! Between the three of us, we'll demolish a seal this size. There won't be any leftovers. Well, wait." Riyo gestures towards the flippers that have been carelessly tossed to the side. "The wolves can have that."

"I think you're missing my point."

"No, I understand. How thorough was your research into Pantoran cuisine?"

"Non-existent. I focused on politics instead, because of the nature of our mission."

"So this must be enlightening. I was going to take us hunting like this anyway, after the third day of the Summit ended, so we're actually ahead of schedule."

Riyo returns to the carcass and cuts away a couple bite-sized pieces of red meat and offers one to Barriss. Barriss gingerly takes the piece between her forefinger and thumb, her lip curling in disgust.

"Am I supposed to sear this with my lightsaber?"

Riyo pops the raw meat into her mouth and chews with gusto. Throughout her travels to the corners of the galaxy, and despite all the things she's eaten (it is astounding what rare dishes some people will offer a Republic senator to impress them) nothing has come remotely close. Fresh seal meat is gamey, but is otherwise indistinguishable in texture from raw fish.

Ahsoka shrieks with delight as Barriss gasps.

"I didn't know Pantorans could eat raw meat too!" Ahsoka says.

"Only fresh seal and fish, as is tradition." Riyo cuts another small chunk and eats that too. She groans, then continues her work. "Come on, Barriss, it's good!"

"It really is good, Barriss." Ahsoka gathers the cleaned rib bones into a pile and picks up another portion from the blubber. The bottom half of her face is purple with blood.

Barriss sighs. "Yes, but you're Togruta, and Togruta are equipped to eat raw meat!"

"Try one bite, and if you don't like it, you can just cook it with your lightsaber," Riyo says.

Riyo tosses the remaining bits of meat onto the blubber and leaves the spent carcass. She kneels down next to the blubber and begins slicing the cuts down to a more manageable size.

Barriss looks at the meat in her hand, then puts it into her mouth. She chews slowly, her eyebrows knitted together.

"Well? Is it good?" Riyo asks.

"Decidedly so," Barriss reluctantly admits.

"Kief! Have some liver." Riyo slaps a third of the dark liver into Barriss's hand. Barriss stares down at it in disgust, but Riyo turns to Ahsoka.

"Do you want some too?"

"Ooh! Yes, please." Ahsoka makes a grabby motion with her hands.

"Here." Riyo gives her a third and leaves the last bit for herself. The three of them sit around the seal pelt, taking whatever they wish. Out of the darkness comes a white Pantoran fox, making its rounds through all the fishing holes and begging the hunters and fishermen for scraps. It's fluffy, with stubby ears and a bushy tail almost as big as its body. It keeps its distance when Ahsoka growls at it, but it doesn't leave.

"I wonder who put the bounty on your head," Ahsoka says. "It could be that Rommeruk guy."

"The late Chairman's son? I don't think so," Riyo says.

"This isn't an insult against your moon, Riyo, but aren't there powerful crime families here? Maybe one of them put the bounty on you," Barriss says.

"Hah, no. No, that's impossible. If one of the Families was behind it, it would start a war," Riyo says.

"Why would that start a war?" Barriss asks.

Riyo is silent for a few moments, torn as to what she should say.

"Oh kriff, okay. You don't have to answer that," Ahsoka says with a sudden air of understanding.

Barriss frowns. "But…."

"She doesn't have to answer that," Ahsoka says again, more pointed this time.

Barriss sighs. "Very well."

Perhaps she shouldn't say, as it'd color their opinion of her so terribly, but Riyo tells herself that they are her dear friends. They should know and they wouldn't judge her so harshly.

"I'm one of the youngest senators in the history of the Republic, let alone in Pantoran history. It shouldn't have been possible for me to get elected, but it happened anyway, because I had help." Riyo says this as carefully as she can.

"So that's how you did it. I always wondered," Barriss whispers.

They fall silent again. Riyo picks up the discarded intestines and tosses it further away, and the Pantoran fox scampers off to get it.

"What are we going to do about the blockaded waterfront? We can't possibly hunt and fish enough for everyone in Bravado. Nor could we smuggle that much food into the town," Barriss says.

"Not to mention the quota of a hundred seal. What could the Count possibly do with that much seal? It's incredibly wasteful," Riyo says.

"We're gonna do something about it, right?" Ahsoka asks.

"We must! We cannot allow an entire town to starve. Although." Barriss falters. "It isn't within the mission parameters."

"The mission parameters are to escort me, correct?" Riyo asks.

"Yes. And to protect you."

"Then escort and protect me when I go see the Count," Riyo says.

Amazingly, Barriss laughs again, the rare sound sweet and full. "Very well."

Riyo kneels next to the ice hole and dips her hands in, cleaning the blood from them. She cups her hands and brings up some water to wash her face. "Ugh. I know the count responsible for this area; Count Anathi Mafoo. It's not like him to be so cruel, but you never know with aristocracy. We'll just have to pay him a visit."

"Awesome!" Ahsoka finishes her bite of meat and goes to the ice hole to wash up too. "What do we do with the pelt?"

"One of the locals will take it. Waste not and such. May I?" Riyo points at the lightsaber.

"Sure."

Riyo plucks the lightsaber from the ice and waves it over her head, using it as a signal flare of some kind. About fifty yards out, one of the neighboring fishermen picks up his lantern and swings it from side to side several times. Riyo waves again, then returns Ahsoka's lightsaber to her.

* * *

Note Bene: I've retroactively added author's notes to the previous chapters, because maybe that will encourage more people to leave feedback (please…please…give me that sweet validation).

Thus ends the surprise lesson on how to butcher seals! And all brought to you by Youtube tutorials on how to render down seals and pigs. One of my previous co-workers also worked as a butcher for some time and she gave me some pointers as to which cuts of meat to buy for which kinds of recipes. Strangely enough, all that research only made me hungry. Like damn, I can really go for some bacon right now. Or sushi.

I honestly don't know if there are four of five gods in the Pantoran Pantheon. In the Clone Wars episode "Sphere of Influence," Chairman Papanoida picks up an Pantoran idol and calls it "the Moon Goddess" and puts it back on a table with other idols, but I didn't get a clear view of how many idols were on the table. I decided that there would be four in total.

Never mind me, I'll just be slowly dialing up the gay chapter by chapter. Carry on.

Are you readers having fun? Cool, cool, cool. What did you like about it?

Check out my Tumblr, Artyblogs, for more content.

And hey. Thank you.


	5. Mafoo Manor

Mafoo Manor is built out of dark hardwoods, and is bedecked in sigil tapestries woven with yellow and purple threads. The stone fireplace is tall enough for Riyo to stand in without slouching, and over the mantle are displayed a few elk carvings placed around a painting of Count Mafoo. Sheer, red fabric has been draped over the painting, somewhat obscuring it.

The dining table is draped in exquisite cloth, and features a magnificent spread of cooked fish, roasted meat, and other Pantoran dishes. Barriss eats a reindeer soup out of a finely-made bowl and hopes that she isn't committing some social faux-pas. If she was asked if her table manners were impeccable yesterday, she would have answered 'yes,' but she's no longer sure of anything after the raw seal debacle that they ate _with their hands_. At least the food is cooked now. She didn't have the appetite to eat much of her share of the seal after she watched Ahsoka tear into the literal heart.

Next to her, Ahsoka eats in silence, content to leave the talking to Riyo. Riyo is all practiced grace and poise, emanating an air of power and confidence despite her wrinkled and blood-stained suit. Thankfully, she attracts most of their hosts' attention, and most of the conversation is held in Galactic Basic.

What's left of the Mafoo family sits with them at the dining table. Dowager Countess Xola's gray hair has been twisted back into a bun, and her sad gaze has been steadily trained on Riyo for most of the meal.

Her second son, Count Mfuneko, sits at the head of the table, and he asks Riyo all sorts of questions about Coruscant and her life as a galactic Senator. He can't be more than a couple years older than Barriss and Riyo, if he's older at all. On the other hand, her daughter Thandi stares determinedly at her plate.

"My condolences on your loss, Count, Dowager," Riyo says. "When is the drowning ceremony?"

"It hasn't been scheduled," Xola says. "Mfuneko is arranging everything, but he hasn't decided on a date."

"I entrust most of the arrangements to Paki." Mfuneko gestures to a young man standing at attention in the corner of the room. His dark blue hair is short and spiked, and his yellow tattoos streak down over his jaw like a beard.

"You must remember Paki, don't you, Senator? One of my father's last acts was to promote him to the head of the guard."

"I remember. The both of you are close friends," Riyo says.

"We go back to the same wet-nurse. At any rate, my father's drowning won't be done until my brother Dumi comes home. He's gone and fled in his grief and we can't find him. Until he returns, it falls to me to act as Count in his stead," Mfuneko says. He shrugs and slouches in his chair. "It wouldn't be right to hold such an important ceremony without him, would it? It's what my father would have wanted."

As this, Thandi grips her fork so hard her fingers turn white, but no one else seems to notice.

Mfuneko continues. "He went so quickly; none of us expected it. I wasn't even raised to inherit the title; that was Dumi's burden to bear, but it can't be helped. I must continue in their place."

"Yes, you are the Count. I'm used to talking business during meals, but we could adjourn to the study if that's preferred," Riyo says. Mfuneko's eyebrows go up.

"Of course, Senator. In due time. I'll admit I have a favor to ask of you as well."

"Oh?"

"I find myself tasked with finding Thandi a suitable match. No doubt you are well-connected. Perhaps you could recommend a few candidates for me to pursue on her behalf."

Thandi lowers her fork and knife. Riyo's eyes flicker.

"My Lord, your sister is only fourteen years old."

"All the better to be interested in her future. I am determined that she be well taken care of." Mfuneko's voice becomes hard and cold. Ahsoka perks up at the change in tone, and Barriss is tempted to Mind Read him through the Force.

Xola sighs and busies herself with her napkin. "I'm curious about your friends, Senator. We hear of the Jedi, but we don't truly know of them."

The tension breaks as Riyo turns to Xola. "They're humble creatures, my lady. The closest equivalent I can draw are the Mother Moon Priestesses."

After lunch, Mfuneko, Paki, and Riyo shut themselves in the study, leaving Barriss and Ahsoka to Xola and Thandi. The four of them take a tour of the manor.

Mafoo Manor is located in the outskirts of Bravado, on top of tall sea cliffs. It used to be a castle until most of it burned down in a horrible fire almost fifty years ago, and the lavish manor was built atop the remaining ruins. Xola shows them the stables where they keep their prized elk, the conservatory, the ballroom, the music room, two different parlors, and the library. More tapestries and wood carvings are hung on the walls alongside traditional weapons made from whale bone and shark teeth.

In the entrance foyer hangs a three meter-tall calligraphy painting on canvas. It resembles the sigils that they've seen everywhere on Pantora, except this one is painted in a deep purple.

"You must have seen this when you arrived, Master Jedi. Chairman Cho started this trend when he had a similar one done for his palace, only his was six meters tall," Xola says. She frowns up at the canvas.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is blood, isn't it?" Ahsoka asks. Xola nods.

"Elk blood. I believe the artist mixed the medium with a stabilizing agent, then varnished the entire canvas to keep it from decaying. It's terribly expensive to do. I must confess that this is the end of the tour, Master Jedi."

"Of course, Lady Mafoo. You must be busy," Barriss says.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask one of the staff." Xola turns and disappears into the house.

Ahsoka looks back up at the painting. "We're being followed," she whispers. Barriss looks around, but sees no one else but Thandi, who's busy looking at a intricate tapestry on the other side of the foyer.

"I saw three guards during our tour, which means that there must be at least nine in total around here," Ahsoka continues.

"Do you think we're in danger?" Barriss asks.

Ahsoka shrugs. "I've decided that it's easier to just assume we're in constant danger until we get back to Defiance, but I'm open to being proven wrong."

"These guards are very good at hiding themselves," Barriss mutters.

"Yeah, but I can still hear them moving and I can smell them too. One of them uses too much cologne." Ahsoka wrinkles her nose.

Barriss lowers her voice even more. "Have you noticed that a lot of these things are new?"

"How can I not? It's all Xola has been saying. 'Mfuneko commissioned this, Mfuneko commissioned that.' This painting alone must cost a fortune," Ahsoka whispers back.

"It does. My brother's going to run us into the poorhouse," Thandi says. She's standing right behind them.

"My apologies," Barriss says, but Thandi shakes her head.

"It's all right. He started burning through our credits as soon as he became Count. My mother tells him not to spend so much, but he doesn't listen. He wants to marry me off because he wants my dowry."

Barriss regards the skinny teenager before her. She's small for her age, with thin shoulders and deep black hair that cascades down her back. Her skin is also a dark blue, making her yellow eyes pop.

"Do you want to get married?" Barriss gently asks.

"No way! I'm training to be a uhadi musician and I want to tour the moon someday. But I don't have any choice, like Dumi didn't have a choice when Mfuneko chased him away," Thandi says.

Ahsoka waves her hands to stop her. "Wait, wait, wait. Dumi, the brother you guys were talking about earlier? That Dumi? He didn't 'flee from grief?'"

"No, he wanted to stay, but Mfuneko and Paki threatened him, so he ran away instead."

"If I may ask, Thandi, how did your father die?" Barriss asks.

Sadness flickers across Thandi's face. "I don't know."

"Where is he interred?"

Thandi shrugs and looks away, blinking furiously. Barriss and Ahsoka share a look. 'Yikes,' Ahsoka mouths.

"Does Senator Chuchi know nice people at least? If I must be married, then…maybe it won't be so bad," Thandi says.

"Let's go talk to her now. Can you show us to the study?" Barriss takes Thandi's arm in hers and lets her lead them through the mansion.

* * *

In contrast to the rest of the mansion, the study is paneled from top to bottom in dark wood. Pantoran constellations are carved into the ceiling, and the bit of walls that aren't covered in shelves feature landscapes. There are two windows on either side of the desk, but despite the copious amount of light they let in, Mfuneko switches on the lamps and places another log in the fireplace. All of the chairs have fur pelts draped over them, and over the floor is a plush rug.

Mfuneko invites Riyo to sit, and she makes herself comfortable in the guest armchair. Paki softly closes the door behind himself and goes to stand in the corner.

_"Please excuse the mess, Senator. I must rebuild my father's network."_ Mfuneko gestures to the stacks of flimsi and data cards scattered over the top of the desk. _"Your arrival is a blessing; I understand that you were one of my father's business contacts."_

_"I was. He was one of the first to donate to my initial campaign. He was a good man. A generous man." _Riyo pauses. _"I would like very much to pay my respects. Where is the body kept?"_

Mfuneko looks to Paki, who smirks.

_"Alas, he's still at the embalmers,"_ Paki says.

_"There, see? Never fear, Senator. You'll receive an invitation to the drowning,"_ Mfuneko says.

There's a sinking feeling in Riyo's gut, but she presses on. _"To business then. I'll admit that my visit is motivated by my recent visit to Bravado proper." _

_"Oh?"_

_"Yes, I was astounded to learn that the public waterfront was closed, and that the only hunters allowed were those directly in your employment."_

_"You wish to hear an explanation. I'm sorry to confess that the waterfront has been poisoned. My men have secured the piers for the safety of the people while my hunters investigate the cause."_

_"And this investigation requires a sample size of a hundred seal? That sounds excessive, your grace,"_ Riyo says.

_"It is unavoidable. I find it best to leave these things to the experts of course."_ Mfuneko says.

_"Of course. I only ask out of concern."_

There is a long moment in which nothing is said. There is only the crackling of the fire. Mfuneko and Riyo stare at each other from across the desk.

_"My sister requires a husband,"_ Mfuneko says. _"I've only just announced it yesterday, and already I have five offers for her hand. But surely you must know at least one young man you might be happy to recommend. In this house, your word as a trusted associate is held in such high esteem."_

Oh, how crafty. Riyo leans back in her seat and considers her answer. The late Count Anathi was a good leader for his people, but he wasn't quite the political animal. It doesn't matter who Riyo recommends, what matters is that _she_ recommended them, thereby implicitly giving her blessing to the match. If Mfuneko followed through with her recommendation, which he will, then it would become known that he was in good standing with the Pantoran Senator of the Galactic Republic, thereby boosting his reputation and opening new venues for networking previously closed to him.

All he would have to do is use his fourteen year-old sister to get there.

_"I know many suitable people, your grace. I could offer a match for you too, if you wish." _

Mfuneko's eyes grow hungry and he leans forward in interest. _"Would you? That's very kind, Senator." _

_"Matchmaking is such a delicate art, you understand. I cannot just drop their names here and be on my way; I'd be betraying their confidence. I must send them flimsies first." _

_"Of course! But what can you tell me now, Senator?"_

_"I can tell you to expect my message in two week's time,"_ Riyo says. Mfuneko cracks a smile.

There's a knock at the door.

"_It seems that's all we have time for._ Enter!" Mfuneko says the last bit in Basic.

The door opens, and Ahsoka pokes her head into the room. Barriss and Thandi are with her, the both of them glancing curiously around the study.

"Hi. Riyo, can we talk?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo nods and rises from her chair. "Of course. Please excuse us, Count."

Mfuneko waves it away. "Enjoy the grounds, Senator."

The four of them leave the study and follow Ahsoka to the conservatory. It's an odd choice until Riyo notices the dark shapes of guards beyond the glass. The guards can observe them in here, looking as if they are gawking at the exotic plants, and so won't feel the need to follow them in, but they also cannot hear what they are saying if they keep their voices low enough, nor can they read their lips through the foggy glass.

Impressive.

Barriss and Thandi sit on a wicker sofa and tell Riyo all that they've learned. Ahsoka walks the small path around the conservatory as if she's a casual observer, but Riyo opts to stand behind the last chair and crosses her arms over her chest, listening.

"Has your brother made any trips to the drowning shipwright?" Riyo asks. Thandi shakes her head.

"He only goes out to drink and to hunt, and that's if he isn't having a party in the music room. I don't think he's ever talked to a shipwright."

"I see. Perhaps there isn't any shipwright because one isn't needed. Ahsoka, do you remember when we went to the Trade Federation ship?" Riyo asks.

Ahsoka grins. "I sure do. Do you want me and Barriss to look around?"

"Yes. Thandi, you and I will distract your brother and give the Jedi time to investigate."

"How?"

"Why, by playing music. Barriss said you were practicing, yes?"

Thandi smiles and her eyes light up.

* * *

Riyo and Thandi leave for the study, and one of the guards follows them. There's a painful tug on Ahsoka's heart as the door shuts behind them, and she resists the urge to go after them. Beside her, Barriss also watches them go with a thinly-veiled glare.

"Perhaps this is a bad idea. We're supposed to be with her," Barriss says

"Mission parameters change all the time. Riyo will be fine. We won't be apart for long," Ahsoka says, even though she still watches the place where she last saw Riyo. Barriss sighs, but doesn't disagree.

After a couple minutes, Riyo, Thandi, Mfuneko, and the guard pass by again on their way to the music room.

"How are we going to conduct a search while we're being shadowed?" Barriss asks. "And don't suggest knocking them out."

"Okay, but that's the easiest thing to do," Ahsoka whispers.

"It's too messy, the rest of the squad would throw us out."

"Not if we do it quietly."

"Quietly?"

Ahsoka strides to the door and yanks it open. She gestures to the guard. "Hey. Come here."

The guard starts, then points at himself. He's dressed in dark clothes, and has a sword hanging from his belt.

"Yeah, you. Do you speak Basic?" Ahsoka asks.

"Yes. Little," the guard says. He turns to face her, wary.

"Where's the kitchen? Can you tell me where the kitchen is?"

"Yes. It's there." The guard points down the hallway, and Ashoka looks, but she turns to him again, confused.

"I'm sorry, where?"

"There, there! Down, then you turn." The guard comes closer and continues to point.

"Uh huh. Interesting. Thank you." Ahsoka reaches out and wraps her arms around the guard's neck in a headlock, then pulls him back into the conservatory. She's almost half a head taller than he is, so it's really easy to do. The guard gurgles and scratches at her, but Ahsoka tightens her grip and keeps moving backwards through the conservatory until he goes limp in her arms. She puts him on the couch and makes it look as if he's taking a nap, then looks at Barriss, who gapes at her.

"Quietly. Although I expected more of a fight, so maybe he wasn't formally trained," Ahsoka says.

"You just snatched that man off his feet," Barriss says in astonishment.

Ahsoka laughs. "I guess I did. Come on, let's go."

They sneak through the house, looking around corners to make sure they're alone before moving forward. When they do see guards, they duck out of sight and Ahsoka uses the Force to knock over something in a different part of the house. When the guard goes to investigate the noise, they sneak past.

At the study, Ahsoka tries the door handle only to find it locked.

"Should I unlock it?"

"No doubt there could be valuable information in there, but I can't read Pantoran. I felt so useless when I tried to help Riyo with the Kortzeer flimsies," Barriss says. "Can you read Pantoran?"

Ahsoka's lek stripes burn. "Uh…no. I didn't think of that."

The corners of Barriss' mouth twitch. "Perhaps we should take Xola's suggestion and ask the staff what happened."

The kitchen is tucked away in a different part of the house, only accessible through a nondescript door. Unlike the rest of the house, the cabinets and the counters are done in light-colored woods and stone. Plain tiles cover the walls. In the middle of the stone kitchen floor, atop a tarp, is a half-butchered seal that's much larger than the one Ahsoka caught the night before. A large, well-muscled man wearing an apron kneels next to it, but he pauses his work to look up at Ahsoka and Barriss when they push through the nondescript kitchen door. A woman in an apron is lining up empty glass jars on the counter, and she looks up too.

"Uh, hi." Ahsoka waves. "Thanks for the meal. It was delicious."

The man turns to the woman and speaks in Pantoran. She says something back, and the man turns to them.

"She says 'you're welcome.' My name is Alack, she is Ila. Are you still hungry? Do you want more food?" The man asks in a heavy accent. His voice reverberates in his deep chest.

"We were actually wondering if there was anything odd happening in this mansion as of late," Barriss asks. "Have you noticed anything strange?"

Alack translates between them. "She says that this entire week, Paki orders her to cook an extra portion of food every meal. He comes to pick it up, but he doesn't eat. He takes it and goes."

Ila says something else and Alack grunts in agreement. "It's a tray. She puts it on a tray for him, and he takes it somewhere else. We don't know. He doesn't tell us. He orders us not to follow him. When he returns it, everything is gone." He pauses again to listen, then, "If there is a knife or a fork on this tray, he leaves them on the counter."

"That _is_ incredibly odd, thank you. You're very observant, Ms. Ila," Barriss says.

Alack translates, then chuckles when Ila replies. "Yes, she is very smart. Ila has actually prepared the next meal already." He points to the counter next to them, which has a plastoid food tray set upon it. On the tray is a wooden bowl full of soup, a spoon, and several cuts of dried fish.

"Haha, no way. It can't be that easy," Ahsoka says.

"It appears that it is," Barriss says. "Mr. Alack, we would like to investigate this mystery for you and Ms. Ila, but in order to do this we would need to follow Paki. Is there anywhere in this kitchen we could hide?

Alack hums and reaches up to stroke his beard, but stops short when he realizes that his gloved hand is covered in blood. He talks to Ila, and she points at a door at the other side of the kitchen.

"The pantry," he says. "But hurry, he's coming soon."

Ahsoka and Barriss pick their way cross the kitchen, careful to avoid the seal carcass, and go into the pantry room. Ahsoka pulls the door closed so that it doesn't swing open, but holds it open a crack, so that they both can still see into the kitchen. She and Barriss are crammed together within the small confines of the pantry, and Barriss ends up holding Ahsoka round her waist to keep from falling out.

"At least nine armed men," Barriss whispers.

"Yeah," Ahsoka whispers back. She hopes that she isn't crushing Barriss, but Barriss doesn't seem uncomfortable at all.

"And if the one you snatched happens to wake up, then he'll warn them all and everyone will be on alert."

"Yeah."

"And they could all be gathered in one place as a result, and would probably be guarding the place where we're about to go investigate."

"Yeah. Piece of cake," Ahsoka whispers. She smiles when Barriss gives her a look of disbelief.

The two of them fall silent when the kitchen door opens again. Paki walks in and scans the kitchen, but his eyes slide right past their hiding place. He talks in Pantoran with Alack and Ila for a little bit, then takes the tray and leaves.

Instead of bowling Barriss over to get out of the pantry, Ahsoka simply scoops her up and carries her out. She crosses the kitchen and, after peeking into the dining room and finding it clear, goes into it and gently sets Barriss back on her feet. Ahsoka puts her hand to her lips and sneaks to the hall to see Paki, still walking down as if nothing is amiss. They don't move out of cover until he turns a corner and disappears. Ahsoka and Barriss follow him through the mansion until he unlocks and opens a door. He goes through and closes the door behind him, and there is the faint scraping of a key being turned. Ahsoka ducks behind a huge, taxidermy Snow Bear. Barriss hurries to join her, and they wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

Eventually, Paki comes back out, still with the tray. The fish is gone, and so is the soup. He locks the door to the stairs, then makes his way back to the kitchen. Ahsoka stays absolutely still, and only turns to Barriss after the sound of his footsteps fade. She straightens and offers a hand to help Barriss up.

"Think you can unlock that?" Ahsoka asks.

"Of course. Please keep an eye out for me." Barriss goes to the lock and inspects it, then closes her eyes to concentrate. The Force ripples from her hands.

CLICK.

Barriss's eyes snap open and she opens the door, revealing a stone flight of stairs going down. "This must be a part of the original castle," she says. She picks up her skirt and leads the way down. Ahsoka closes the door behind them and follows her.

The stairway opens up to a stone cellar. Segmental arches lead to different compartments within the cellar on either side, and in each compartment and along the center hallway hang simple electric lamps. Within the arches and the floor, stuck in the stone, are embedded iron where the bars were cut away and the remnants were ground flush with the surrounding surfaces.

Further down the hallway, however, are a couple cells that are kept intact. Ahsoka and Barriss run towards them, but another guard comes out of one of the open compartments. He yells at them in Pantoran and draws his sword, but instead of stopping, Barriss and Ahsoka rush forward even faster.

Ahsoka pushes with the Force, slamming the guard's sword back into its sheath. The guard swears and tries to draw again, but before he can, Barriss leaps at him and slaps her palms into his face.

The guard crumples to the floor, unconscious.

Ahsoka slows to a stop and looks down at the guard's form in awe. "What? What was _that?_ What did you _do?_"

"I appropriated a Force-healing anesthetic technique to make him sleep," Barriss says.

"Kriff, that's scary," Ahsoka says, still staring down at the guard. His mouth lolls open as he begins to snore.

"It's efficient." But all the same, Barriss' cheeks glow with the compliment.

"Hello?" A voice comes from one of the locked cells. "Who are you?"

Ahsoka and Barriss go to the cell. An old man stands at the bars, his forehead pressed against them to better see. His gray beard and hair are disheveled and wild, and his clothes are wrinkled. He stinks, and Ahsoka resists the urge to pinch her nose shut. In the cell with the old man is a thin mattress and a chamber pot.

"Count Mafoo?" Barriss asks.

"Yes, I am Count Anathi Mafoo. Who are you? What brings a Mirialan and a Togruta to this place?"

"Senator Riyo Chuchi brought us here," Ahsoka says, and the man's bloodshot eyes widen.

"We're here to investigate your disappearance, your grace," Barriss says. The Force ripples again as she scans him for injuries.

"Thank the Gods! Thank the Gods. I do not even know how long I've been trapped in here." The man, Anathi, wipes a tear from his face. "You must have seen my family. Are they doing well?"

"They're mourning you. Your Grace, why have you been locked in here?" Barriss asks.

Anathi's bushy brows knit together in pain, and he looks down. He says nothing.

About five men, including Paki, run into the hallway from the staircase, yelling in Pantoran. Ahsoka growls and goes to fight them, but they barrel into her and tackle her into the ground. Ahsoka lands hard, the air whooshing out of her lungs. She's able to grab and throw only two of the guards off of her before they shove her into the closest empty cell. Ahsoka rolls over the floor, then reaches out to catch Barriss when she's thrown in after her. Paki slams the door closed and locks it, and the guards around him cheer and give each other high-fives.

Paki drops the keyring into his belt pouch, and steps away from the cell bars. "Alive, unharmed. Good."

Unbridled hot rage wells up within Ahsoka's chest. If it weren't for Barriss sitting in her lap, she would throw herself against the bars right then and there.

"_You_ imprisoned the Count?" Ahsoka shouts. "You traitor! He trusted you!"

"You think it was my idea? You think I could do this myself? I'm flattered, Jedi." Paki turns to the guards and says something in Pantoran, and waits as they pick up the unconscious guards from the floor, then leads the way back out of the cellar. Their voices echo through the cellar and abruptly stop when the door to the staircase shuts. Barriss crawls out of Ahsoka's lap and watches them through the bars.

"They didn't take our lightsabers," Barriss whispers. Sure enough, their lightsabers still hang untouched from their belts.

"Are you complaining?" Ashoka asks. She really shouldn't be so testy, but her annoyance still eats away at her. It really should have taken more than five fighters to bring her down. A kit could do better than that.

Barriss shakes her head. "I'm just surprised. I didn't expect them to be so incompetent. They probably didn't realize what they were. Jedi aren't well-known on this moon." She gets up and dusts herself off. "How did they know we were down here? Were we spotted by one of the guards?"

"There is a holocam. There." Anathi points a small device that's bolted to the ceiling next to one of the lamps.

"I see it," Barriss says.

"Then summon it." Ahsoka stands and unclips one of her lightsabers from her belt. The bile rises in her throat and her lip rises from her teeth in a snarl. It's only at the sight of Barriss that Ahsoka realizes that she's broadcasting her loathing through the Force. Barriss' eyes are wide, and she hesitantly reaches out to touch her arm.

Ahsoka struggles to reign in her temper. It's not Barriss' fault, and she doesn't know. How could she know when Ahsoka's never told her?

"Summon the holocam now. The longer we're in here, the more chances Paki has to confront Riyo about us." Ahsoka ignites her lightsaber and swings it at the bars, chopping through them with ease. She swings again, and pushes with the Force, making the cut bars fall out and onto the floor with a satisfying clatter.

Kark yeah. Ahsoka steps through with a deep breath.

Barriss summons the holocam, plucking it out of the stone brinks, and catches it in her hands. Bits of stone crumble off from around the durasteel bolts.

"Ahsoka? I talked to Riyo yesterday, about…about your mission. You don't have to tell me what happened, but if you ever do want to talk, I will listen," Barriss says.

"Thank you." Ahsoka helps Barriss through the bars with her free hand. Even if she wanted to tell her, what would she say? How could she even begin to explain what happened during that mission?

Barriss gives her hand a brief squeeze, but when she tries to pull away, Ahsoka doesn't let go. She really hoped that she would take this to her funeral pyre, because it fills her up with hot shame and she doesn't think she's ever going to truly get over it, but it can't be helped. Barriss offered to listen, and she wouldn't judge her the way other Jedi would.

"They put me in a cage," Ahsoka manages to say before her throat closes up.

Barriss staggers back, her mouth open. "A cage? Ahsoka, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. You had nothing to do with that."

Barriss lowers her head only to eye the discarded, still-smoking bars lying at their feet.

One day, Ahsoka will be able to tell the rest. One day. But right now, she needs to focus on the task at hand. She turns towards Anathi's cell. "Please back up, sir."

Anathi's eyes widen and he retreats to the back of the cell. Ahsoka swings her lightsaber again.

KRRRSH. BVOOSH.

Ahsoka yanks the sliced bars away and tosses them to the floor, then puts away her lightsaber. "Let's go."

"Eish!" Anathi mutters under his breath as he steps out of his cell. "I admire your enthusiasm, young lady, but Paki and his men locked you and your friend in here not more than five minutes ago. How do you expect the next fight to be any different?"

"Because this time, they won't catch me by surprise." Ahsoka leads the way through the cellar and up the stairs. "Doesn't matter how many men they throw at us this time."

"Please don't kill them. I must deal with them myself," Anathi says. "The Blizzard God demands that retribution come from the wronged."

"Cool. Stand back, sir." Ahsoka raises her foot and push-kicks through the door, ripping it off its hinges and cleaving the deadbolt through the doorframe in a shower of splinters. The door flies out and crashes into a guard standing across the hall, knocking him unconscious. The door and the guard drop to the floor with an unholy crash.

The two other guards standing on either side shout in Pantoran and draw their swords. One of them pulls his arm back to swing down, but Ahsoka catches his fist and punches him in the face. His head snaps back and a tooth pops out of his mouth.

Barriss ducks under Ahsoka's arm and reaches out for the second guard. She uses the Force to bat his sword away and closes the gap between them, grabbing his wrist and locking her elbow so that he can't swing the sword anymore.

Ahsoka disarms her guard and lets the sword fall the floor with a clatter. She takes him by the throat and lifts him off the floor, then slams him into the wall. The guard slumps, and she lets him go. Past him, further down the hall, are more guards. They run towards her with their swords out. Ahsoka growls.

The second guard's sword slips from his fingers as Barriss renders his entire arm numb, and she steps onto the hilt with her boot to keep it from being picked back up. He punches, but Barriss swats his fist away and begins rapidly slapping him where he's open: across the neck, the stomach, the chest. With each movement, she's grabbing on to either his sleeves, or his wrists, to control him until she tugs on both of his arms to bring him in. As soon as his head is within range, Barriss grabs his face with both hands, putting him to sleep.

Ahsoka picks up the door and flings it down the hall at the oncoming guards. They shout and some of them duck out of the way, but the ones at the back don't see it until it's too late, and they're hit.

The rest of the guards slow to a stop, wary. They retreat when Ahsoka takes a step forward.

"Surrender," she says, and they stare at her in confusion. "Ah kark, I forgot. They don't speak Basic."

Anathi steps out into the ruined hallway, glaring at the remaining guards.

"Kunika!" He bellows. The guards glance at each other, then fall to their knees.

* * *

Thandi is a wonderful musician, although her best instrument isn't the uhadi. She'd make a lot of credits if she got better at the uhadi, as traditional musicians are a disappearing kind, but not as many credits as she would make playing the stringed batanga. Thandi switched to the batanga after playing just one piece on the uhadi, and she's played complicated song after song since, her fingers flying up and down the instrument's neck.

Riyo sits in one of the chairs set around the room, watching. She's didn't take to music as a youngling; she never really had time to pursue the art, but she admires musicians just the same.

Halfway through the first piece, Xola came into the room. She gave everyone a tight smile, sat in the chair next to Riyo, and listened to Thandi play. She hasn't moved much since.

Then Paki comes in. He silently crosses the room and leans down to whisper in Mfuneko's ear. After a few seconds, Paki straightens up and goes to the back of the room, leaving Mfuneko stone-faced. He turns to Riyo.

_"Are you a spy?"_ He asks. Thandi falters and stops playing, and Xola looks at them in confusion.

_"No, and I'm insulted at the accusation,"_ Riyo says.

_"Do not lie to me, Senator. Your associates were caught in the cellars, which are off-limits to guests. They were snooping; you are all spies." _Mfuneko's voice takes a dangerous tone.

Riyo meets his eyes with an even gaze. _"We aren't spies, your grace. What we are is investigating the alleged death of your father, Count Anathi." _

Thandi and Xola gasp.

_"If you required proof, all you needed to do was ask! This is a grievous breach of trust and etiquette. We did not elect you so you could come into our homes and pry into our sensitive business,"_ Mfuneko shouts.

_"Mfuneko, wait,"_ Xola says. She puts a hand on his shoulder, but he shakes it off and stands up. He looms over Riyo, who doesn't move.

_"The people shall hear of your duplicity, Senator. Your political career is over." _

_"I strongly disagree."_

_"How are you so calm about these accusations?" _

CRASH.

A commotion erupts elsewhere in the house, and Paki runs out of the music room.

_"That's how,"_ Riyo says. She and Mfuneko glare at each other for an extra moment, then they both scramble to follow Paki. Riyo slips and almost falls, but Thandi grabs her arm as she runs past her.

_"Come on, Senator! Let's go!" _

They follow Mfuneko down to to main hallway, right next to the foyer, where they find Ahsoka and Barriss fighting off the guards. Ahsoka picks up a door and hurls it at the attackers as if it weighs nothing, while Barriss slaps a guard into submission, her hands a blur.

_"Whoa. Senator, your friends are really cool,"_ Thandi says.

"Surrender!" Ahsoka shouts, but when none of the guards obey, she sighs. "Ah kark, I forgot. They don't speak Basic."

An old, disheveled man steps out behind Barriss and Ahsoka. His gold eyes blaze with anger. _"Surrender! Surrender now!" _

There's a pause as the guards hesitate, then one by one, they toss their weapons away and kneel, revealing Mfuneko and Paki. The two of them gape at the old man in horror.

Thandi's grip on Riyo's arm tightens. "Baba?" She asks.

"Anathi," Xola whispers, her eyes wide.

_"Run!"_ Mfuneko and Paki turn and sprint to the front door. They trip over discarded weapons and over the kneeling guards, but they manage to keep upright.

Barriss gasps. "They're going to get away!"

"No, they won't! Get down!" Ahsoka picks up a sword and pitches it at them as hard as she can. The blade flashes in the light as it whips through the air.

"Ahsoka, no!" Barriss moves to stop her, but is too late. Thandi and Xola scream.

But the sword misses Mfuneko and Paki entirely and embeds itself through the doorframe and into the door itself, jamming it closed. Paki grabs the sword handle and tries to pull it out, but it's stuck fast. He staggers back and falls to his knees.

_"We're done."_

_"No, get up!"_ Mfuneko frantically tugs at the door in vain.

_"We're done! Stop!"_ Paki's shout echoes through the silent house.

_"Mfuneko. What have you done?"_ Xola asks.

Mfuneko turns to face Anathi, his face all purple. _"Ruling Bravado has long since overwhelmed you! Your foolish insistence that we not industrialize keeps our people poor! You think I'm still a child?"_

_"Are you mad?"_ Anathi screams.

_"I am not mad! You should have made me the heir! I know you've never liked me! Which one of you have ever cared about me? Which of you has ever thought about me?" _Mfuneko starts crying halfway through his speech.

Xola sobs. _"He is your father!" _

_"And I should have killed him!"_ Mfuneko thunders. _"I hate him! I hate you all!" _

A deafening silence follows. Ahsoka and Barriss lean down to whisper to Riyo.

"What are they saying?"

"I'll tell you later," Riyo absently whispers back.

Xola draws herself up, enraged. She goes around Thandi and Riyo and slowly crosses the foyer towards her son, her footsteps filling the silence. The guards shuffle to the side to let her through, and the closer she gets, the more Mfuneko backs away until he is pressed against the front door. Even though he is head and shoulders taller than his mother, he cowers now before her.

Thandi buries her face in Riyo's shoulder, and even Paki and the defeated guards look away.

Xola slaps Mfuneko across the face.

* * *

Barriss, Ahsoka, and Riyo stay put as Anathi orders Mfuneko and his conspirators to be locked in the cellar, in the remaining prison cells, and the staff escort them down. Thandi waits until they are out of sight before running to her father.

"Baba!" Thandi envelops him in a hug, crying. Anathi laughs, then kisses Thandi's forehead and murmurs something to her in Pantoran. Xola watches them with tears in her eyes.

Barriss smiles. While they weren't supposed to come here at all, it's difficult to consider this wasted time. She could think of worse things to do other than returning a man to his family.

"Senator, Master Jedi, you have my deepest thanks," Xola says in a thick voice.

Riyo smiles. "It's the least we could do, my lady."

"Please, please come with me to the parlor," Xola says.

Along the way, she gives gentle orders to Ila, Alack, and the rest of the staff. They bring out brooms, dustpans, and other tools to help clean up the aftermath of the fight. Alack goes to the embedded sword and grunts as he tries to pull it out.

In the parlor, Xola sits in the armchair and gestures to the couch. Riyo sits down, followed by Ahsoka and Barriss, who flank her.

"What can I do to repay you?" Xola asks.

"Live well. "My job is to serve the Pantoran people. Your happiness is reward enough," Riyo says. Both Ahsoka and Barriss turn to stare at her. It's astounding how gracious she can be. How effortless she makes it look.

Xola shakes her head. "There must be something more."

"Perhaps access to a comlink. We need to message Defiance about urgent matters."

"Alas, we don't have a comlink strong enough here."

"Isn't there one in the local college?" Barriss asks.

"No, they tore the comlink tower down to build a more advanced one. It won't be ready for another month." Xola stands up and goes to the door, where she beckons to one of the staff. After a whispered conversation, they leave and return with a tray of supplies. Xola takes the tray with thanks, then sits back down in her chair. On the tray are flimsies, a handheld embosser, a stylus, and a small, velvet sack.

"All Galactic Senators are equipped with the latest portable comlinks, yes? You would be able to com Defiance from here if you had yours," Xola says.

Riyo flushes indigo. "I might have been robbed, my lady. You're rather perceptive."

"Once does not become a countess through ignorance, Senator." Xola takes up the stylus and begins writing in elegant script. "No identichips, no comlink. We must fix that." She finishes the letter with a flourish and embosses it, then folds the flimsi and puts it into an envelope. She embosses flap of the envelope too, then seals it. Ahsoka whispers to Riyo.

"Was your letter of rec for Sanele supposed to look like that?"

Riyo sighs. "Yeah."

"Please take this letter to vouch for your identity, and these five hundred credits with our thanks." Xola holds the envelope and the velvet sack out.

"My lady, it is too much. The letter will do," Riyo says.

"All Snow Walkers need basic supplies, and it won't be the first time this house has funded you. It won't be the last either. Now take these gifts."

Riyo takes them and slips them into the interior pockets of her suit jacket. "What will you do now?"

Xola puts the tray to the side with a sigh. "There is much to do. We must auction off all of the tacky decorations Mfuneko bought, and then we must clean up the aftermath of that little skirmish. I must send messengers into town to muster the Bravado Security Force, to call back the hunters and open up the piers, and also to the records office to revoke my husband's death certificate. I must also send word to Dumi that it is safe to come back. And then…and then perhaps I might have dinner with my family. Will you stay the night?"

Riyo glances at both Barriss and Ahsoka, and Barriss must have looked uncomfortable, because she says, "We must be off, my lady. Snow Walkers have long journeys."

Xola gives them a warm smile. "Of course. Defiance is but a ferry ride away. Should any of you come back, this house will always be open to you."

* * *

Note Bene: So why doesn't Xola do anything about Mfuneko earlier? You know how when one half of a couple dies, the other also dies soon after? That was Xola. Xola was in the middle of dying of a broken heart and was just not into living anymore. She just loves Anathi that much.

God, Mfuneko is such a fucking brat. Why are some of original characters such assholes? WAIT. That's by design. This story wouldn't truly be patterned after its source material if Riyo, Barriss, and Ahsoka weren't surrounded by jerks. Any guesses as to what the source material is?

I found myself trying really hard to get Ahsoka and Barriss around that language barrier only to switch to Riyo's POV in the second to last scene. And I had to do it too because there's no way these people would stick to Galactic Basic for such a private and emotional conversation. But that was all right, because it's hilarious that way.

And with this chapter, we've reached the halfway point for this story! Did you like this chapter? Let me know!

Take a look at my Tumblr, Artyblogs, for more stuff. I got headcanons over there.

And hey. Thanks.


	6. Breede Ice Ferry

Overhead, the afternoon sky is blotted with a thick layer of dark clouds. Between the County of Bravado and the Duchy of Defiance runs a natural border: the Breede River. Many ships, freighters, and private boats traverse this river every day, but in the colder months, when the surface of the river has frozen over, they must all be retrofitted. Smaller boats are equipped with removable blades under their hulls, essentially making them sleds. Bigger ships and yachts, like the Breede Ice Ferry, have durasteel plows installed on the prow. These monsters cut through the ice with ease, leaving behind chunks of ice. Because of this, the parts of the river with the most traffic have almost no bits of ice left intact.

_What's good good? And what's good evil?  
__And what's good Seppies? And what's good people?  
__And why's the Force have no comment when I com-call Them?  
__If They holo-d, hallowed or hollow, would I watch 'Em then?  
__The answers are negative every now and then  
__Keep all these sentiments under a keycard then_

Ahsoka sits on one of the lounge chairs on deck, and inhales deeply as she composes in her head. It's not as elegant as Riyo's work, or what she imagines Barriss' to be—Ahsoka's sure that Barriss does it too, no matter how firmly she says otherwise—but she figures she could do it too.

The ferry is moving fast enough to whip the crisp, cold wind into her face, and it's full of the scents of fish and pine and the floral and woodsy smells of the soap and perfumes of the other passengers around her. These Pantorans are dressed in embroidered coats and shawls lined in fur. The handles of their knives—worn openly on their hips and waists—are engraved with gold and silver, or are scaled in antler. Unlike Riyo's plain behemoth of a knife, these are much smaller, more decorative.

The women have coiled and braided hair, which are pinned in place with gold ornaments, not unlike how Riyo's hair usually is while she's on duty as a Senator. A few men puff on pipes carved from horn and wood.

A few younglings run past, laughing. They're chasing a sled dog, and after a few moments of chaos in which the adults lift their cups of caf and tea up out of their way, and a couple chairs are knocked over, they run off towards the stern.

Barriss sits in the chair next to Ahsoka. In her lap are the padlocks she collected from the Kortzeer garage and from Countess Xola Mafoo, totaling four all in all, but instead of practicing, she's busy staring at the people around her.

"Riyo, did you spend all of our credits on our tickets? This ferry is more well-to-do than I expected," Barriss says.

Riyo has abandoned her ruined suit for a new set of warm clothes. They're not nearly as nice as the clothes worn by the other passengers. In fact, they're rather plain, but Riyo still manages to wear them well. Under her knitted slouch hat, her hair has been pulled back into a simple bun. She sits at a small table near them with a newsflimsi and a small pot of caf. Riyo glances up at the Jedi and turns to the next page of her flimsi.

"I initially requested tickets for a different ferry line, but when they ran my identichip, they immediately gave me discount tickets for this ferry instead. It happens all the time," Riyo says. She sets the news flimsi over the table and makes a couple folds. She rips the flimsi along the folds, then tucks the flimsi into an interior coat pocket.

"What did you find?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo reads and summarizes for them. "According to the news, the Summit is running smoothly under the direction of Duke Rommeruk Cho. Chief Thi-Sen and Cho are being civil and no one has been ejected."

"Duke Rommeruk took your post? I thought Sprekker Jok would have taken over as mediator," Barriss says.

Riyo leans back in her seat to look at them. "You're right, that _is_ odd. I wonder why Sprekker didn't volunteer."

"We're going straight to Sprekker when we reach Defiance, right?" Ahsoka asks. Riyo nods.

"The newsflimsi says that he's been heading the investigating into our disappearance, so he must have some insight as to who is responsible."

"I still think it's Cho," Ahsoka says. "The guy doesn't like the Talz. I mean, I get why he doesn't, but doesn't that mean he has motive to sabotage the Summit?"

Barriss gives her a chiding look. "That motive could be applied to roughly half of the Assembly, because the late Chairman Cho was the leader of an entire political party. Any one of its members could be responsible for our abduction. If sabotaging the Summit were the goal of our abduction, then the Summit would have dissolved by now."

Riyo folds the flimsi back up and pushes it away. "As if any politician worth their salt would ever do something for only one reason. At any rate, if this ferry makes good time, then we might make contact with Sprekker by end of day today."

"And what about the bounty on us? Is it on us, or just you?" Ahsoka asks.

"Just me. The client is anonymous. What progress have you made, Master Jedi?" Riyo asks.

Barriss closes her eyes and holds her hand over the padlocks. After a few seconds they pop open one after the other.

Ahsoka whistles, and she and Riyo clap their hands. "Way to go, Barriss!"

"Thank you." Barriss picks them up and pushes them closed again. "But it's still a bit too slow for my liking. I'm trying to see if I can do it faster."

A flash of annoyance comes from Riyo in the Force, and both Barriss and Ahsoka turn to find her frozen, her hands open-mid clap. She's not looking at them, but instead is frowning at the wood paneling of the deck next to her table. There's nothing there, so Ahsoka follows the tilt of Riyo's ear. At the table behind Riyo sits a middle-aged couple. They're speaking in low voices, but not in a language that Ahsoka recognizes as Pantoran. It must be some regional dialect that Riyo understands, however, because the longer she listens, the more scandalized she looks.

"They must be talking about us, because they keep glancing in this direction," Barriss whispers. She tugs on the collar of Ahsoka's parka. "Don't stare, you might intimidate them."

Ahsoka's heart sinks. "But I haven't done anything."

Barriss gives an apologetic smile and takes Ahsoka's hand. She squeezes. "Yes, you're a big softie, but the fact remains that the both of us have been stared at the moment we stepped foot on this ferry. There isn't a lot of diversity on this moon and these people have probably never seen a Mirialan or a Togruta before."

"Have you come across something like this before?" Ahsoka asks.

Barriss' nose wrinkles, and she lowers her eyes. "When it's in one of the languages I happen to speak, yes. Some people have said the most scandalous things about me. And about Master Unduli."

"Oh, that is it!" Riyo turns around in her seat towards the couple, who gape at her. Riyo talks to them in their dialect, her voice harsh and scathing. The woman gasps, and her hand goes to her neck. The man turns purple. Around them, the rest of the passengers quiet down to eavesdrop, but a group of young socialites watch the unfolding scene with schadenfreude delight. One of them stuffs a gloved knuckle into his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

The couple answer back, sounding rather offended. The man gestures to one of the deckhands, who cringes and steps towards them, but steps back when Riyo turns her glare upon him too.

Then Riyo switches to Basic. "I dare! Let me repeat myself then, for the benefit of the entire ship: the amount of filth that spews from your mouths is extremely distasteful and embarrassing. You will stop and apologize to my friends, or I will have the crew take you out with the rest of the trash."

"Take us to the Captain!" The man shouts at the deckhand. He stands up and offers a hand to his wife, who sizes Riyo up and down with distain.

"You will regret this when you and your…friends are thrown off the ship."

"Then I must enjoy the time I have left. Go, you are dismissed." Riyo waves them off. The man starts forward, enraged, but his wife and the deckhand pull him away. Riyo watches them go, then turns to survey the rest of the deck. As if on cue, everyone else averts their gaze to their newsflimsies, data pads, and to their snacks. The low murmur of casual conversation picks up again as if nothing happened.

The group of young socialites, however, burst out laughing. They pick up their food and shuffle their playing cards together, then make their way across the deck towards Riyo. The one with the bite marks in his glove smiles down at her, his eyes bright.

"My name is Nanuk and this is my wife, Yuka, my in-law Ujarak, and our very good friend, Osha. May we join you?"

"Please. My name is Riyo," Riyo says, and the five of them push tables together and get enough chairs for everyone to sit. Riyo beckons to Ahsoka and Barriss. Ahsoka rises from the lounge chair to shake their hands.

"Hey, I'm Ahsoka Tano."

"Jedi Knight Barriss Offee," Barriss gives a short curtsey before joining them. Oops, maybe Ahsoka should have included her title as well.

"They are both Jedi," Riyo says and the socialites give vague noises of interest, like they don't quite understand, but are happy for them all the same.

"The same Jedi who command the GAR in the war?" Ujarak asks. They share the same shape nose and mouth with Nanuk's wife, Yuka.

"Yes," Barriss reluctantly admits.

"The war hasn't reached here on Pantora, thank the Gods. We don't have to bother ourselves about it at all. We must thank you for speaking up, Riyo. You have no idea how badly we've wanted to do that. Most of us on this ferry have been traveling together in a group tour for the past two weeks, and the Jaheems made every bit of that trip miserable for the rest of us. Do you play?" Osha, a tiny thing with thick spectacles perched on her nose, shuffles the deck of cards.

"Take a breath!" Nanuk says, and Osha blushes.

"Apologies. I know I talk faster than light speed."

"I feel seasick," Yuka says, and everyone stops and looks at her. Nanuk frowns and rummages through his pockets.

"Did you take the motion-sickness tabs? I have them somewhere."

"The medicine makes me feel sick too. You know traveling like this disagrees with me, Nanuk."

"You say this as if I made you do this when it was all your idea. I suggested we go by private ship, but you insisted on gawking at the scenery."

"There you go, blaming me when things go wrong…."

Nanuk and Yuka drop their voices as they continue to talk to each other in Pantoran. Osha and Ujarack sigh and turn to give them some privacy.

"Uh, are they okay?" Ahsoka asks.

"Please ignore them; they do this sort of thing all the time," Ujarack says. They're cut off when Yuka bursts into tears. She stands up, almost knocking her chair over in the process.

"Please excuse me." She turns and practically runs away, wiping her face on a fine handkerchief. Nanuk groans and slumps in his chair.

"Aren't you going to go after her?" Ujarack asks.

"Tell me this, Ujarack, tell me this; why is it that every time I try to do something for her, I somehow make things worse?"

Ujarack shrugs helplessly and pushes their cocktail towards him. "My sister's always been like that, despite our parents' best efforts."

Nanuk sighs. "Thank you, friend." He downs the drink and hurries off after his wife.

"Yikes," Ahsoka says.

"How long have they been married?" Barriss asks.

Osha removes her glasses and pulls a cloth from her pocket to polish the lenses. "Not long. We don't quite know why they got married in the first place. We weren't aware they had anything in common."

"We introduced them to each other," Ujarack says.

"Whatever it is, we cannot do anything about it." Osha puts her spectacles back on and tucks the cloth back into her pocket. "Shall we play?"

The engine of the ferry, which has quietly rumbled beneath their feet all this time, goes silent. The ferry slows to a stop in the water. Barriss gently puts her hand on Ahsoka's arm.

"What is it?"

"We've stopped. Are we supposed to stop?" Ahsoka looks around for anything out of place, but finds nothing.

Ujarack chuckles. "Watch out, Riyo! The Jaheems are having you thrown overboard."

"Ha ha," Riyo says in a deadpan voice, but before she can say anything more, several bounty hunters climb aboard the ferry. One of them wears a familiar snow leopard mask, and they survey the deck until they see Ashoka.

"You!" The Leopard draws their blaster and aims it at her. One of the other bounty hunters tries to grab their hand.

"No! Remember the plan; we're here for the Senator!"

"I don't care! She killed my friends!"

PEW PEW.

Everyone hits the deck, screaming. Barriss grabs Riyo around the waist and pulls her down, and Ahsoka lifts the table and throws it clear across the deck. The Leopard dodges it, but it hits the other bounty hunter, who goes flying into the railing and crumples into a heap before the table lands on him.

PSSHEW. Ahsoka's lightsaber jumps to life in her hands and she gets into a stance. More bounty hunters come from the other side of the ship to surround them.

PEW PEW PEW.

Ahsoka deflects the blaster bolts with ease. "What do we do? We can't fight all of them without putting everyone in danger."

"We're right next to a lifeboat. We'll take it to shore." Barriss climbs over the railing, then hops down onto the covered lifeboat.

Riyo goes to the railing, but hesitates. "We have to get them to follow us."

"What?" Barriss asks. She tears the covering off of the boat and tosses it away.

"The bounty hunters must follow us. It's the only way to ensure the safety of all the passengers," Riyo says.

"I don't think that'll be a problem!" Ahsoka keeps blocking more and more blaster bolts in between banishing chairs at the bounty hunters. They've tipped a couple of the tables over and are crouching behind them, only showing themselves to shoot at her. The other passengers crawl out of the way until they're relatively safe, then retreat down to the other end of the ferry.

Barriss helps Riyo climb down into the lifeboat, then shouts, "Ahsoka, let's go!"

Ahsoka jumps and does a backflip onto the lifeboat. When she lands, the boat lurches dangerously, and Riyo grabs onto the edge of the thwart she sits on. Barriss staggers, but manages to stay standing.

"Cut it loose!" Barriss yells. She and Ahsoka swing their lightsabers through the chains holding the lifeboat aloft, and the boat falls onto a large, jagged, chunk of ice, cracking the hull in two. Riyo tumbles out of the wreck and onto the ice, dazed.

"I'm all right," Riyo mumbles. Ahsoka puts her lightsaber away, then leaps down and picks her up. Before them, the surface of the river is a cracked and churning mess of ice and water caused by the traffic of the ships and by the natural flow of the river.

"I did not think this through," Barriss mutters to herself as she gets up and brushes herself off. Behind them, the ruined lifeboat sinks beneath the water.

Above them, the bounty hunters lean over the railing of the ferry and take aim.

PEW PEW PEW.

"I did not think this through! They have the high ground!" Barriss shouts as she frantically deflects the blaster bolts.

"Which way?" Ahsoka asks Riyo.

"Huh?"

"Which side of the river is Defiance on?"

"Oh! That one!" Riyo points to the riverbank directly in front of them.

"Barriss, let's go!" Ahsoka sets off with Riyo still in her arms. She and Barriss jump from ice floe to ice floe, sometimes using the Force to jump across several yards of water. Eventually, the blaster bolts stop coming.

"Are they following us?" Riyo asks. The three of them pause and turn to look. There, cutting across the river at a breakneck speed towards them, is a speedboat laden with the bounty hunters.

"Oh. That must be how they got to the ferry in the first place," Ahsoka says. Barriss gives her a look of utter disbelief.

"If they catch up to us, then you can congratulate them in person."

"Let's go!" Ahsoka turns and they continue to run, but the speedboat closes the gap and soon enough, they start shooting again. Ahsoka and Barriss duck and weave until they get to shore. The blaster bolts go wide and sink into the surrounding ice and water, releasing steam.

The bank of the river is overgrown with trees. Ahsoka and Barriss climb onto land and keep pushing forward as fast as they can, but their clothes are caught on branches and bushes and must be pulled free. Ahsoka sets Riyo down on her feet.

"We are leaving a trail a blind kit could follow," Ahsoka says.

Barriss tugs her cloak free of a snag and winces when the branch snaps off. "What do we do then? Fight?"

"Spread out! They're in here somewhere!" One of the bounty hunters shouts. Judging from the sound of their voice, they're not that far away.

"Do you remember that time on Geonosis when I asked you to hide in that cave?" Ahsoka asks. Barriss frowns.

"You mean when you told me to _wait_ in the cave?"

Ahsoka nods. "Uh, yeah. Wait. You're gonna have to wait again."

Barriss' frown deepens, but she doesn't say anything further.

Back on Geonosis, when Ahsoka went alone into the wilderness to hunt for her starving troops, she came across a Massiff. It was already old, but it was a huge, hellish thing, with bony, armored hide, round, soulless eyes, and a ridge of spikes growing out of its back. It could still eviscerate her if it wanted to.

It wanted to.

They stared at each other from across the desert, sizing each other up, and Ahsoka knew that if she wasn't careful, it would slaughter everyone who came out here with her. If she didn't do something soon, it would attack her first.

When Ahsoka killed the camel, she smeared its blood all over herself to entice the massiff to follow her instead. If the massiff thought she—a punk upstart interloping in its territory—was injured during the takedown of the camel, then it wouldn't attack; it would just wait for her to die. It would follow her to make sure she died, and if it were following her, then it wouldn't be waiting to ambush Anakin or Rex.

It worked. The massiff tailed Ahsoka through the desert, waiting, waiting, waiting for her to succumb from whatever injuries she appeared to have. Constantly lingering on the edges of Ahsoka's field of vision. And anything Ahsoka killed, it would leave alone, because its chief concern was making sure Ahsoka died.

And then Ahsoka saw Barriss walking in the desert too; a bright beacon of purple and green against a sea of red. And there was the massiff only yards behind her, coming too close out of curiosity.

Thank the Force that Ahsoka got to her first. It could have been so awful, and she felt pretty bad that she could have gotten Barriss killed. Ahsoka didn't tell Barriss what was going on (she might have dropped some clues in her panic), but she did walk Barriss to an abandoned cave.

And when Ahsoka was sure that Barriss was safe, she went back out into the desert and killed the massiff.

The things she does for that girl. The things she kriffing does. If Anakin ever found out that Ahsoka wouldn't kill a massiff for _him_, he would never let her live it down.

Ahsoka pulls down a branch of the nearest, overgrown bush to peer inside, but it's too dense in there. Barriss and Riyo would never fit. She inspects a couple other bushes before she finds one she likes.

"In here. Do not come out for anything, no matter what you hear. I'll come back for you."

Barriss nods and takes Riyo's hand, and the both of them huddle together in the bush. Ahsoka releases the branch again, and it bounces back into place. She carefully moves the foliage together to cover up the disturbance, and when she's satisfied, she walks on, purposely breaking leaves and twigs as she goes. When the bounty hunters find their trail, they'll follow it past their hiding place and walk straight to her instead.

The trail curves around and back towards the river, and when it leads far away from Barriss and Riyo, Ahsoka stops laying it down and begins to silently stalk through the trees. The bounty hunters make no attempt to muffle the sounds they make as they comb through the forest. They shout at each other in Pantoran, and their machetes chop through the foliage with ease. Ahsoka slowly makes her way to the nearest bounty hunter. He's a big, big man, stocky and helmeted. There is no one else in sight.

Ahsoka circles around him until she's just behind him and opens herself up to the Force. With how thick the trees are, there could be other bounty hunters on the other side of the next tree and she wouldn't know, but through the Force, she knows that they are practically isolated.

She draws her lightsaber hilt and darts forward.

BVVVWN.

PEW PEW PEW.

The lightsaber goes through the bounty hunter like he's nothing, and he shouts and pulls the trigger of his blaster. But Ahsoka doesn't stop and keeps going past him until she disappears into the trees again. The bounty hunter is dead before he hits the ground.

The others shout and start shooting too until they figure out that there is nothing to shoot at, and the forest falls silent again. Ahsoka climbs a tree to get a better view. If they're smart, then they'll regroup and search together.

"Keep going!" Someone shouts, and the rustling starts up again. Ahsoka smiles and drops out of the tree behind the Leopard.

_Gotcha_, she thinks as she activates her lightsaber again.

* * *

Barriss crouches with Riyo in the bush, her hand on her lightsaber. Ahsoka's footsteps have long since faded away, leaving her with one question.

What if this doesn't work?

It's not that Barriss doesn't have any faith in Ahsoka; quite the opposite. But what if they are underestimating the skills of the bounty hunters trying to find them? It's only the practical thing to ask.

A scream rings out through the forest, and there's a short burst of blaster bolts before the forest goes silent once more. There aren't even any birds chirping.

If one of the bounty hunters comes this way, and looks into the bush, then Barriss will fight. She'll tell Riyo to run, and then she'll hold them off to ensure her escape.

Another scream. Another pop of a blaster. In the Force, the bounty hunters' uneasiness grows into panic, and they start shouting at each other.

"What are they saying?" Barriss whispers to Riyo.

"They're, er, they're calling to each other, but some of their friends aren't answering. They're getting scared because they're getting picked off one by one. They're…they're going back to the river. They're running away." Riyo reaches for the branch of the bush, but Barriss stays her hand.

"It could be a trap, meant to lure us out of hiding."

But the branch is pulled away anyway, and Barriss lunges out of sheer terror, stabbing out with her lightsaber.

BVOOSH.

"Whoa!" Ahsoka leans back so that the blue blade of Barriss' lightsaber misses her head by a couple inches. "It's just me."

"Ahsoka!" Barriss turns off her lightsaber and jumps up to envelop her in a hug. Ahsoka hugs her back with one arm. Relief floods the Force around them.

"I said I'd be back," Ahsoka whispers.

"So you did." Riyo steps out of the bush and brushes herself off. "What is that? Did you bring us a gift?"

Barriss pulls away and looks down. There, in Ahsoka's other hand, is the limp body of the Leopard. Barriss steps back in horror. "By the Force, you _are_ an overgrown tooka! Ahsoka, _why?_"

"Because no one knows they're dead! They've got a comlink and in that comlink might have the com code for the person responsible for abducting us. Come on, give me some credit. I didn't drag them all the way back here for nothing." Ahsoka kneels down next to the body and begins stripping off the mask and the armor. She hands these to Barriss.

"Put these on."

"WHAT?"

"Well, _I_ can't impersonate them, I'm taller and heavier and my montrals won't fit in the mask."

"And I suppose I'll have to play dead to give some credence to our ruse. We'll trick the patron into revealing themselves." Riyo says.

Of all the loper-brained schemes Barriss has ever heard, this one is by far the worst, and this is coming from someone who suggested death as a contingency plan. Barriss holds up the Leopard's clothes and shakes them. "They stink. I hope you realize that. This person must not have had a bath in _weeks_."

Stink is an understatement. These clothes smell like five million unwashed armpits, like they were fished out of a rubbish bin, like they were marinated in rotting eggs. Ahsoka and Riyo cringe in agreement.

"Strange, I thought leopards liked water," Riyo says. Ahsoka snorts and turns away to hide a smile.

"Jokes? Now? Really?" Barriss asks. She feels so betrayed.

"I'm sorry. I'm just relieved that we're all still alive." Riyo tries and fails to school her face into something more neutral, but Ahsoka bursts out laughing.

Barriss dumps the clothes onto the ground and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry too, Barriss, but you gotta admit that we have a pretty good opportunity here. Just put it on, and it'll only be for five minutes, and I'll owe you one," Ahsoka says as she wipes away a tear on the back of her hand. She picks the clothes back up and holds them out to Barriss.

"We'll both owe you one," Riyo says. Barriss points at them both.

"Fine." Barriss unbuckles her cloak and pushes it into Riyo's hands, then grabs the clothes from Ahsoka. "I'm going to change. Over there. Don't look." Barriss ducks behind a tree and regards the clothes again. She's smelled better in the grimy Coruscanti Undercity, and she resists the urge to gag. This is such a mistake. She pulls the shirt over her head and really does gag this time.

Ugh, this is _the worst thing she's ever done._ And all because Ahsoka suggested it. The things she does for that girl….

Not a minute later, Barriss steps back out from behind the tree. She trips over boots that are several sizes too big. In fact, everything is too big, from the body armor, to the gloves, and even the pants. The pants threaten to drop, despite the belt being cinched on the smallest notch, and Barriss tugs them up.

"Here, I found this burner on them, but I can't read Pantoran." Ahsoka gives a cracked data pad to Riyo, who swipes and taps through it.

"There's only one com code on it. It must be the Patron's code." Riyo sits down next to a holocomlink and enters the code, but doesn't press enter. "Where do you want me?"

"A little further out. We don't want you to be too close, or he might notice something," Ahsoka says. Riyo scoots back until Ahsoka gives her a thumbs up.

"Will you play dead too?" Riyo asks. She hands Ahsoka Barriss's cloak and lies down. Ahsoka folds the cloak into a neat bundle and tucks it under her arm, then leans down and arranges Riyo's limbs. She throws some leaves over her too, to give off that freshly-killed vibe.

"Nah, I'll be watching from behind that tree. I really wanna see this guy." Ahsoka jerks her thumb over her shoulder at the tree line, then turns to Barriss. She squints. "Barriss? Is that you?"

"Can we get this over with? The longer I wear this getup, the more I long to depart from the Living Force." Barriss says.

Riyo bites her lip to hide a smile. "The good news is that the com call will have to be as short as possible. The longer it goes on, the more time the patron will have to figure out our trick."

Ahsoka's lip curls as she sizes Barriss up.

"Not a word," Barriss says.

"Okay! This should work as long as you don't say anything." Ahsoka ushers Barriss to stand before the holocomlink, then picks up the Leopard's arm and backs away, dragging the body with her. "I'm gonna hide behind this tree."

A nervous whine escapes Barriss' throat, and she reaches for her.

"You'll be fine! Just stand there and point to Riyo. Oh, and nod if he asks you something. Or shake your head. You're gonna be great!" Ahsoka and the Leopard disappear into the brush.

"Break a leg," Riyo whispers from the ground. She turns her head and closes her eyes. In the following silence, a bird call sounds from far away.

Barriss would take a deep breath to ease her nerves, but if she does, the stench will make her vomit into the mask. She should just get it over with, like ripping off a stubborn Bacta patch, and not think too much about what she's doing. Barriss crouches down and presses the 'call' button, then straightens up.

After a few moments, the holocomlink sputters to life, and blue light springs from it to make a grainy, flickering hologram. Barriss takes a few steps back to give the hologram more space.

A figure appears, wearing a cloak with a deep hood to obscure his features. He opens his mouth, and in a distorted voice, and to Barriss's horror, he speaks to her in Pantoran.

Barriss freezes and changes her mind. _This_ is the worst thing she has ever done. The figure stops talking and seems to wait expectantly. Barriss is lost until she sees Ahsoka poking her head out of the brush.

_Point at Riyo,_ Ahsoka slowly mouths. She also pantomimes it.

Barriss jerks, then mirrors Ahsoka's movements. The figure turns to look, and he starts talking again, only this time sounding more fascinated. He talks again, then pauses as if expecting an answer. Barriss glances at Ahsoka, but Ahsoka can only shrug.

What an awful plan; undone by a language barrier. The figure chuckles as he stares down at Riyo's still body, and talks again, and Barriss cannot help but feel the doubt churning in her gut.

And then the comcall ends, and the blue light sputters out. Barriss stares down at the holocomlink until Ahsoka comes out of hiding and plucks it off the ground to turn it off. Riyo rises from the ground and goes to Barriss.

"Are you all right?" Riyo asks.

"I ruined it, didn't I?"

"You did just fine. It couldn't have gone any better." Riyo pulls the leopard mask off of Barriss' head, freeing her to the fresh, crisp air. She drops the mask onto the ground.

Barriss stares. "It worked?"

Riyo nods. "The Patron probably thought you were quite dumb, but he thanked you all the same and promised to transfer you half of the credits, then the other half after you've delivered my body. He said he'd send the coordinates for the rendezvous to the burner data pad."

Ahsoka laughs and picks Barriss up. "It worked!"

"Whoa!" Barriss laughs as Ahsoka spins her around. "Ahsoka, put me down!"

"We're gonna catch this guy with his pants down! We're gonna arrest him! And we're gonna take his credits anyway!" Ahsoka gently places Barriss back down.

"We can't take his credits, that's evidence," Barriss says.

The burner data pad beeps, and Riyo looks at it. "Huh. The rendezvous is scheduled to take place in a couple days just outside Defiance."

"Does that give us time to rest?" Barriss asks.

"Yes."

"Good. Because I need a bath. I stink." Barriss pulls off the gloves and throws them down in disgust.

* * *

Note Bene: Jesus Christ, Ahsoka's kinda dangerous, huh? I didn't realize how dangerous she was until I started proofreading. I wonder why I did that? (No, it's not because I'm attracted to women who could kick my ass. How dare you suggest that. After all we've been through? All I've done? And you say that to my face? I can't believe this. No, I'm not being defensive. Don't look at me.)

Have you ever met anyone who can't let anyone else have a good time if they're not having a good time? Or someone who can't stand not being at the center of attention? And they're passive aggressive on top of that? Yeah, that's Yuka. Everyone knows a Yuka.

My Tumblr, Artyblogs, has more content and stuff like that.

And hey. Thanks for reading.


	7. The Moonlight Monastery

Snow begins to fall, dusting the ground and the trees in a thin coat of frost. Their boots crunch as they walk through the woods. Riyo has said nothing since they started their trek from that clearing. No murmuring. No humming of any kind. There is only the steady pace with which she leads them. Ahsoka frowns at Barriss, who shrugs.

It's unnerving to see Riyo dejected like this for no clear reason, and while they could just use the Force to read Riyo, Barriss would rather they didn't.

"Are you okay?" Ahsoka asks.

"Huh?"

"You seem a little down. Are you okay?" Ahsoka asks again.

"Yes," Riyo says unconvincingly. Ahsoka stops in her tracks and crosses her arms. Riyo sighs and turns around, exasperated.

"Ahsoka, we don't have time for this."

Barriss nervously looks back and forth between them. Ahsoka simply stares down at Riyo, whose eyes flash.

"We need to keep walking. Please keep walking?"

But when Ahsoka doesn't move, Riyo groans.

"What do you want me to say? That everything's all right? That I didn't unwittingly lead you two into every perilous situation we could feasibly come across? That I didn't put you two in danger? That I didn't put everyone on that ferry in danger just by buying our tickets? Because then I'd be lying!" Riyo shouts, but as she goes on, her voice turns more and more fragile.

"Wait, wait, wait," Ahsoka waves her hand. "How is the ferry attack your fault?"

"My new identichip has a special clearance. The Pantoran Assembly is alerted whenever identichips with this high clearance are created, so anyone with access to those records would be able to pinpoint where exactly the new identichip was made. They could then make an educated guess as to where I would go after that, and probably paid special attention to the Breede River. When I bought the ferry tickets, I had to run my identichip, and anyone who blanketed the Breede River would find me right away. Someone in the Assembly must have tipped the bounty hunters off as to where I'd be."

"Someone in the Assembly wants you dead," Ahsoka says.

Riyo nods. "I led them right to you, and to those innocent people."

"Did you hire those bounty hunters to kidnap us? Because then it would be your fault," Ahsoka says.

Riyo hangs her head and kicks at the snow. "No. I suppose you're right on that issue. But I'm supposed to know where we're going and I got us into so much trouble instead."

"How could you say that? This entire journey was brilliant!" Barriss says, surprising even herself. "We diverted a ferry attack. We returned a count to his rightful seat and saved an entire town from starvation! And we helped a pair of twins get their lives together!"

"And we mended a god's fishing net," Ahsoka says.

"Alleged god," Barriss corrects. "But my point is that this trip has been the most fun I have had in literal years!"

Both Ahsoka and Riyo turn to her, gaping.

"Barriss, you're smiling," Riyo whispers.

"Happiness looks good on you," Ahsoka says. Barriss' face grows hot.

"Thank you."

Riyo gives a weak smile. "It's very kind of you to say those things, Barriss, but you don't have to lie to me."

"But I wasn't lying, Riyo. This whole traveling around and solving problems, that's what Jedi are supposed to do. I haven't just been enjoying myself out here, but I've also felt fulfilled in a way that I haven't felt since I became a commander in the war." Barriss stops in her tracks, her words turning into ash in her mouth. Oh. Oh no. She shouldn't have said that. Even as Riyo's eyes light up and as Ahsoka grins at her, cold regret paints the insides of Barriss's ribs.

She's an awful Jedi.

But Riyo lights up like the sun and gives her a little hug. "Thank you for telling me, Barriss! I feel so much better." Riyo turns and continues down the road, but with more pep this time. "Follow me, you'll like this next place we're going to. Defiance _was_ a ferry-ride away, but we jumped ship too early, so we've still got quite a ways to go. We might as well stop by."

Ahsoka and Barriss follow her, but at a more sedate pace. Barriss pulls her cloak tighter around herself.

"Uh, hey Barriss? Thanks for saying all that," Ahsoka says.

Barriss gives a nervous laugh. "Oh well, anything to cheer Riyo up, right?"

"Yeah, but it cheered me up too." Ahsoka can't meet Barriss's eye, but her aura is genuine. "I've kind of felt like that for a while too, and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one."

Ahsoka quickens her pace until she catches up to Riyo, leaving Barriss with a growing sense of dread.

_Oh no. _

The road passes by a tall stone wall, and carved in the wall are large sigils. They're different than the other sigils they've seen around Pantora so far, and some of them are worn down. As they pass, Riyo reaches out and swipes across the worn parts with a hand.

Set within the wall is an open gate. The yellow painted posts are several meters tall, and they support a sloping tile roof. Riyo stops within the gate and dusts the snow off of her clothes, and Ahsoka and Barriss stop beside her.

Within the gate and the wall is a courtyard with a smooth, stone floor. In the middle of the courtyard is a gazebo, and kneeling in the entrance to the gazebo is a woman in yellow and gold robes, with her hands in her lap. Her eyes are closed and her shoulders rise and fall as she breathes deeply.

Barriss can feel her. Sense her aura. She's not as powerful as a Jedi, or even an initiate, but she's Force-Sensitive all the same.

There are other robed women walking through the courtyard, and Barriss can sense them too. She hasn't felt the Force flex this strongly through other people since she first stepped onto Pantora. Ahsoka turns to her with wide eyes.

"Barriss…."

"Yes, I feel it too. Riyo, what is this place?"

Riyo makes a grand, sweeping gesture over the sprawling buildings ringing the courtyard. "Welcome to the Moonlight Monastery, Master Jedi. The women who live within these walls have dedicated their lives to serving Mother Moon."

"Whoa. These are the people you keep saying are like Jedi?" Ahsoka asks.

"Eeh." Riyo makes a shaky motion with her hand. "It's not a perfect match, because they don't have laser swords…."

"Plasma swords," Barriss corrects.

"And they don't travel the galaxy, but they do have some mystical powers that they use to heal people," Riyo continues. "I actually wanted to be one when I was little, but there's a stringent selection process."

"Judging from what we feel, it might be Force-Sensitivity," Barriss says.

Riyo's eyebrows go up. "Really? Then that explains a lot." She smiles and waves to one of the robed women, who crosses the courtyard to them. She's short and stout, and she approaches Riyo with a warm smile with a tight hug.

"Riyo! Kuhle ukukubona kwakhona."

"Nceda wam umhlobo, kodwa nceda uthethe ngeBasic."

The woman pulls away and holds Riyo at arm's length to get a good look at her. "We were not expecting you for two more days."

"Yes, but my schedule got mixed around, so we're here a little early. I hope that's all right," Riyo says.

The woman nods. "Are these the Jedi guests you told us about?"

"Yes! These are my friends, Padawan Ahsoka Tano and Knight Barriss Offee."

"Hey." Ahsoka waves, but Barriss does a small curtsy.

"This is Priestess Kupun, we've known each other since we were children," Riyo says.

The woman, Kupun, laughs. "We're very good friends."

Under her tattoos, Riyo's cheeks turn the slightest indigo. "Yes."

Kupun beckons to them all and leads them into the courtyard. "The tour then. Like Riyo said, my name is Kupun, and I've been living here in the Moonlight Monastery for the past three years. I've recently completed my training and have taken vows, so that is why I wear these robes." She gestures to a couple of other women who pass by, and they wear robes of white and yellow. "Before then, I would wear robes like those."

The two initiates wave at them, and Kupun waves back. She leads them through the courtyard and into one of the buildings, where they find themselves in a wide, wood paneled hallway. Two men, not in robes, step by to let them pass, then step through the door together. There are a lot of laypeople in this monastery, some of them are escorted by priestesses, and others walk through the complex by themselves or in groups.

"The Moonlit Order worship Mother Moon by caring for Her creation. We run an orphanage, a sick bay, a shelter, and other services. We also serve as a safe stop for travelers. There are Mother Moon monasteries located all over Pantora, but this one in particular is especially famous for our baths. We're built directly over a hot spring, which is renown for its healing properties."

A cold chill runs down Barriss' spine, and she looks around for the danger. Ahsoka also turns to look behind them, but there isn't anything there.

"Ahsoka…."

"I felt it too," Ahsoka whispers. Her sharp, blue eyes scan the hallway.

"What was it?"

"What was what?" Kupun asks. She and Riyo watch them expectantly.

"Has there been anything odd happening here lately?" Barriss asks.

Kupun's face falls. "Well, there is…oh dear. I shouldn't say."

"What is it? Whatever it is, you can tell us," Riyo says.

"I shouldn't say. Not out here. Come." Kupun leads them down the hallway until they come to a nondescript door, then opens it and ushers them in. She closes the door behind them and whispers, "Our healers are some of the best in Pantora, but sometimes they can't heal the patients, so they die."

"It's always difficult to lose patients," Barriss says, but Kupun shakes her head.

"When we lose people, we prepare the remains for the drowning shipwright, who comes to pick them up. We can't hold drownings because death isn't our specialty. But lately, bodies have gone _missing_," Kupun whispers.

Ahsoka's eyebrow markings go up, and Riyo gasps. Kupun buries her face in her hands.

"Mother Estuuya and the other leadership have been investigating, but to no avail. They are at their wits end. I want to help, but I'm just a novice and this matter is strictly need-to-know."

Ahsoka and Barriss share a look, then Ahsoka nods. Barriss steps forward to Kupun. "Ahsoka and I volunteer to investigate the thefts, Priestess."

Kupun twists the hems of her sleeves in her hands. "Oh dear. It's not that I'm ungrateful, Master Jedi, but ah, you are guests in this place. It's unfair to ask this of you."

"That's okay. We're supposed to be doing this kind of thing," Ahsoka says. Kupun, unsure, looks at Riyo, who nods.

"Oh, thank you! Riyo, your friends are wonderful." Kupun reaches out and hugs Barriss and Ahsoka round the neck. They both stoop down from the hug and see Riyo over Kupun's shoulders.

Riyo smiles gently up at them. "Yes, they are."

* * *

Riyo had not seen Kupun in years, not since she elected to become a Mother Moon Priestess. The decision was a painful one, but not unexpected, and even after they parted—Kupun to the monastery, and Riyo to Coruscant—they kept in touch through letters. The room that Kupun led them to was in fact the suite that was assigned to them during their stay, and after Ahsoka and Barriss left to do…whatever it was that Jedi do, Kupun asked if Riyo would like to meet her mentor, Priestess Aguta.

_"I'd be delighted,"_ Riyo had said, so they left to wander the monastery.

_"Priestess Aguta has been a wonderful teacher; her insight into the sacred texts is so thorough and thought-provoking. I think you'd like her."_ Kupun says in Pantoran.

Riyo smiles. Although it hurts, it's still nice to know that Kupun is happy here. The monastery looks good on her. She's never seen her smile so much.

_"You have a type, eh Riyo?" _

_"Pardon?"_

_"The Jedi. I can sense that they're blessed too, and it is so obvious that they are very fond of you."_ Kupun giggles, and Riyo's ears burn hot.

_"I don't follow." _

_"You don't need to be so coy with me! I'm actually relieved; I worried about you, you know." _

_"_You_ worried about _me_?"_ Riyo asks in astonishment.

Kupun laughs. _"Yes! I know how wrapped up you get in your work, and I knew that it would be so easy for you to shut yourself away while on Coruscant. I was worried that you'd be lonely, but I'm glad I was wrong. Do they make you happy, Riyo?"_

This time, Riyo's entire face heats up. _"Yes, they do." _

This part of the monastery is dedicated to classrooms. Children of all ages are taught here by priestesses, and Priestess Aguta is one of these teachers. A few adults—parents and guardians—wait in front of a few of these classrooms. Some of them talk quietly amongst themselves, but most of them swipe and tap on their palm-sized data pads.

Riyo and Kupun peek into the open door of one of these classrooms to find old desks, a slate board hanging on the wall, and an Aurebesh banner pinned to the wall over the top. There are two rows on this banner; the top dedicated to the Pantoran Aurebesh, and the bottom one to the Basic equivalent. The rest of the walls are covered in children's art projects and brightly-colored posters. In the corner, upon a rug, is a group of small children. They're gathered around a priestess, who sits on a stool and holds a picture book on her lap so that they can all see. This must be Priestess Aguta. There's an dreamy quality about her, like her mind is far away.

Aguta reads aloud to the children, and Kupun and Riyo are content to wait and watch.

_"And that is why we have four seasons: Summer for the Sea Goddess, Autumn for the Trickster Goddex, Winter for the Blizzard God, and Spring for Mother Moon. Each God has their place, and there is a place for each God." _

Aguta's soft eyes flicker up at them, and she pauses. _"Children, who can tell me what time it is? Remember our lesson earlier? Who can read the chrono?"_

The children turn around to the chrono hanging on the wall opposite of the slate board. They all start shouting at the same time, all different numbers, and the corners of Aguta's mouth twitch up.

_"Thank you, Koluwa! Yes, it's time to go. Collect your things."_

There's a mad scramble as the children rush to the cubbies to get their bags. Riyo and Kupun move to the side to let them stampede past. Some of them go to the adults waiting outside, but most go to another priestess, who herds them away.

Inside the classroom, Aguta closes the book and puts it to the side, then rises and goes to the door to greet them. _"Priestess Kupun, who is your friend?" _

_"Priestess Aguta, this is Senator Riyo Chuchi."_

_"The infamous Riyo Chuchi?"_ Aguta's smile widens into a grin.

_"She talks about me?"_ Riyo asks.

_"I don't think anyone within this monastery hasn't heard of you. Priestess Kupun has been such a pleasant asset to this Order. We must all thank you for her." _

_"Please, the least I could do was be supportive of her choice,"_ Riyo says.

_"Priestess, it is almost time for your walk around the monastery with High Priestess Estuuya,"_ Kupun says.

_"So it is. Priestess, Riyo, would you like to join us?" _

Kupun gasps and her eyes light up. _"Could we?" _

The three of them make their way through the monastery until they reach the courtyard and the gazebo. Housed inside the gazebo is a statue about two meters tall that is exquisitely carved from yellow marble to form a standing woman. Her arms are outstretched and her hand-painted gaze is turned down to focus on the entrance of the gazebo, where one would kneel to pray. The stone at her back is carved into a flaring aurora that is gilded with streaks of gold, and upon the points of some of the rays hang woven flower chains in varying stages of dryness.

The base of the statue, and most of the floor of the gazebo in front of it, is obscured with bouquets of flowers, lit candles of every size, and a smattering of credit ingots. There are also holographs of Pantorans here and there, lying amongst the candles and ingots.

Kneeling upon a cushion set at the entrance of the gazebo, right where the statue would be looking and reaching towards, is an older woman dressed in yellow. Her facial tattoos circle around the bottom of her eyes like spectacles.

The woman draws a long breath in, and slowly lets it out.

Kupun lingers at a safe distance with Riyo and whispers, _"The High Priestess, Mother Estuuya."_

Aguta approaches the older woman, Estuuya, and leans down to whisper in her ear. Estuuya rises from the cushion and joins them.

_"Welcome to our humble monastery, Senator,"_ Estuuya says.

_"Thank you, Reverend Mother,"_ Riyo says.

They begin their walk through the grounds. It's stopped snowing, but a thin layer of white covers all of the trees, plants, and buildings. A couple priestesses and a few volunteers sweep the paths with brooms to clear them of ice.

_"You said that there would be three people in your party, Senator. Where is your retinue?"_ Estuuya asks.

_"My friends are exploring the premises on their own,"_ Riyo says, but she's interrupted by Kupun's nervous cough.

_"Reverend Mother, I must confess that I acted without permission."_

Aguya's jaw drops. _"Priestess Kupun, what have you done?"_

_"Riyo's friends are Jedi, and they asked to help us with the robbery issue we have in the Monastery,"_ Kupun says.

Aguta freezes, her eyes wide. _"What?"_

_"Ah yes, the Jedi. You are more well-connected than I expected, Senator."_ Estuuya's voice turns thoughtful.

_"You know of the Jedi, Reverend Mother?_" Riyo asks.

Estuuya nods. _"They are mentioned in the ancient records. The Jedi used to come to this very monastery to recruit the more powerful priestesses for their order, but then they stopped. As of today, your friends are the first Jedi to step foot in this place in hundreds of years."_

_"They would poach priestesses? What is this Jedi Order?"_ Kupun asks.

_"They are blessed with greater gifts to protect the greater galaxy. Very powerful. Mother Moon must have sent them here to help us with our problem."_ Here, Estuuya turns to address Kupun. _"Thank you for your initiative, Priestess Kupun. We shall alert the rest of the monastery to the Jedi presence and encourage their cooperation with any of their requests and questions." _

_"Reverend Mother, is it wise to involve outsiders in our problems?"_ Aguta asks.

Estuuya turns to Riyo. _"What do you think, Senator? Are your Jedi friends reliable?"_

_"I trust them with my life,"_ Riyo says.

_"Then it is settled." _

Aguta opens her mouth to speak, but Estuuya holds up her hand.

_"The issue has been decided. Priestess Kupun, please go inform the rest of the priestesses with my blessing."_

Kupun bows her head. _"Thank you, Reverend Mother."_

* * *

The Temple of the Moon is one of the few buildings in the monastery that is built of stone. Candle chandeliers hang from the ceiling, lighting up the rows of pews and the artwork hanging on the walls. At the front of the temple is a large statue of a woman. Her arms are raised up above her head, and her legs are pressed together. She seems to be in the process of turning into a flowering tree.

Barriss knows that there is only the Force, and nothing else, but being in reverent places like this never fails to bring to her a quiet sense of awe. It doesn't matter _who_ these places were built for, but _why_ they are built. The Force takes on many faces as It manifests Itself across the galaxy.

Barriss is the only one in here, and yet despite the conspicuous lack of life, she doesn't feel alone at all. Every step that she makes echoes through the temple and she wonders…. She takes a deep breath and sings.

_"There is no emotion, there is peace."_ She sings in Mirialan, starting out soft and rising in volume, drawing vowels and syllables out and letting the notes rise and fall. Her accent is off, and she's slightly pitchy, but she continues and only pauses to hear her voice cast through the temple. It's as if it's the Force singing back, and she smiles. Emboldened, she sings again.

_There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.  
__There is no passion, there is serenity.  
__There is no chaos, there is harmony.  
__There is no death, there is the Force._

Barriss lets her voice trail off in a whisper and listens to the remnants of her voice reverberate everywhere until it dissipates, leaving behind a quiet peace. She sighs, content. It's not bad at all, but the acoustics on Ilum are better.

"Whoa," someone whispers. Barriss whirls around to see Ahsoka standing at the door of the temple. She's staring at Barriss with open wonder, her mouth slightly open.

"That was you?"

Barriss would like to spontaneously combust right this instant. Please.

"Yes," she mumbles.

Ahsoka walks up to the aisle to her. "That was beautiful! What was it?"

"The Code."

"You were singing the Code? I didn't know it could be sung like that."

"It's not a Jedi thing, it's a Mirialan thing. It's how poets perform their pieces." Too late, Barriss covers her mouth with her hands to stop herself. Ahsoka gasps.

"Ooh, I knew you did it too! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it."

"Ahsoka." Barriss touches her arm, and Ahsoka stops to listen. "Please don't tell anyone."

"But…." Ahsoka's eyebrow markings scrunch together. "But you're really good at it."

No one has ever told her that before. Barriss pauses, lost for words, as warmth spreads through her body. Her fingers curl into the soft leather of Ahsoka's parka. "Thank you."

Ahsoka gives her a toothy grin. "No, thank you! But if it means so much to you, I'll keep your secret. Come on, I think I found their hospital." Ahsoka takes Barriss' hand and leads her out of the temple.

They walk down one of the wide walkways until they reach a frosted garden. Within the garden are a few visitors, including a man in a wheelchair being pushed by a priestess. Across from the garden, on the other side of the walkway, is a long, low building. Ahsoka and Barriss go inside to find a waiting room filled with families. Small children shriek as they play with toys on the carpet, and one of the parents rolls a stroller back and forth to soothe a crying baby to sleep. Barriss and Ahsoka make their way across the room to the receptionist, who greets them in Pantoran.

"Apologies, we don't speak the language," Barriss says.

The receptionist doesn't skip a beat. "That's all right. Are you here to make an appointment?"

"We're actually here to investigate the missing bodies," Barriss says. All of the color drains from the receptionist's face and she leans forward to whisper.

"Then you are the Jedi we were told to expect. My name is Lindiwe. I'm here to help you in any way I can."

Ahsoka and Barriss share a look.

"What happened to being sneaky?" Ahsoka asks.

"Well, whatever happened, I'm sure Riyo is behind it," Barriss says. She turns to Lindiwe. "Please take us to the last place the bodies were seen."

Lindiwe nods and stands up to let them in through the door, where they're blasted with the overpowering sickly-sweet smell of Bacta. She leads them down a corridor of examination rooms, then turns the corner. There are more rooms here, but it's more quiet. The air is still. The only other person is a priestess pushing a crash cart down the hall. Lindiwe goes to one of the rooms all the way at the other end of the hall, and opens the door. Within the room is an empty bed, a nightstand, and a chair in the corner.

"This is the room the body was stolen from," Lindiwe says. Barriss and Ahsoka step inside and begin to look around, but Lindiwe stays within the doorway and watches them work.

"Is this the hospice ward?" Barriss asks. Lindiwe shakes her head.

"There's no room for full wards here. This is the in-patient part of the medical bay."

So a patient who needed to stay here would be assigned to any room that happened to be free, regardless of the type of care they required. Barriss pulls open the curtains of the window to see the garden. The man in the wheelchair is still out there, but he's shakily getting to his feet with help from the priestess attending to him.

"How did the patients die?" Barriss asks.

"The first patient overdosed on spices, and was brought in for emergency treatment. We were unable to stabilize him. The other patient came in for a routine checkup, but she died from a sudden stroke. That one was especially hard on the staff, as she was only twelve years-old."

"What are the buildings next to this one?" Barriss asks.

"The Shelter is just beyond that door, and then the Cafeteria is behind." Lindiwe gasps. "By the Gods, you don't think…."

"We can't be sure of anything just yet," Barriss quickly says. Her stomach churns at the thought. "When were the bodies taken?"

"One was taken three days before, and the first was taken last week. The surviving families are very upset," Lindiwe says.

"I don't sense anything. Don't smell anything either except for the Bacta," Ahsoka says.

Barriss inspects the clasp of the window for any scratches or marks, but finds nothing.

"Who found, er, didn't find the bodies? Who discovered the theft?"

"I did. When I open the walk-in clinic in the morning, I also check in on all of the patients," Lindiwe says. "Three days ago, I opened the door expecting to find a body ready for the drowning shipwright, but it was gone!"

"And that's how you discovered that the first body was missing as well?" Barriss asks. Lindiwe nods.

Barriss and Ahsoka continue to question Lindiwe, but to no avail. There were no witnesses, no holocams, nothing else missing or out of place. None of the visitors or priestesses exhibited any troubling behavior whatsoever. (One of the regular patients is a young man who routinely injures himself in order to be treated by a specific nurse, but that's not relavent to their case.)

An hour later, Ahsoka and Barriss exit the medical bay through the side door and find themselves in a narrow alley between the medical bay and the shelter. What meager grass that has been able to grow in this place is already covered in snow.

Ahsoka groans.

"Frustrated already, Ahsoka?"

"Ugh, no. I mean, a little. Okay, so if the thief escaped using this door, then they wouldn't be using a gurney or a wheelchair."

"Because this alley's too narrow for that," Barriss says. Ahsoka nods.

"So if they didn't use any of those, then they must have carried the bodies. When you're dragging a body around…." Ahsoka pauses as if she's just realized how bad that sounds. Barriss can't help but giggle.

"Go on," Barriss says. Ahsoka smiles and rolls her eyes.

"When you're dragging a body around, and you're dragging it through dirt, you're gonna leave a trail."

"I see, but there's no dirt in this alleyway anymore. It's all covered in snow."

"It's all turned to mud! The trail is ruined," Ahsoka shouts. Barriss gives her arm a sympathetic pat.

"There, there. We'll find a different way."

Ahsoka takes a deep breath and lets it out in a slow stream. "Maybe I'm just cranky. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in days."

They both look up at the darkening sky. A flock of birds fly overhead, squawking.

"Do you remember the way back to our suite?" Barriss asks.

"Yeah. You're not coming with?"

"No." Barriss sniffs the collar of her hood and winces. "I still need that bath."

* * *

The bathhouse is hot and humid and full of people. Some are clothed, others wear temporary robes that are issued by the monastery. There are tattoos everywhere, in fact, the only ones who go unmarked are the children. Riyo has full tattoo sleeves of geometric patterns intertwining with patterns, woven over her skin like cloth. She put them on full display when she traipsed through the taiga in her tank top and they definitely drew Barriss' eye. Ahsoka's too. But they never asked what they might mean. They must mean something, because Barriss sees the same patterns repeating in other people's tattoos.

If Barriss has learned anything by walking through this bathhouse, it is that Pantorans are tattooed _everywhere_. The chest, the back, even the hands and feet. Some men have tattoos from their knees up, like pants, and some women have tattoos running up their legs, like boots.

Pantoran tattoos must mean something then, and thus must be vastly different from Mirialan tattoos. Barriss is very aware of her skin as it brushes against the material of her own temporary robe. She remembers how each mark itched as it scabbed over, from the lumen on her face, to the lumen on the backs of her hands and on her arms up to her elbows, and even the most recent spread of lumen running down her back.

Mirialan tattoos are rewards. Barriss received the ones on her face for becoming a padawan, and she got the ones on her arms and her hands for finishing her healer training. The tattoos on her back are for becoming a knight. According to the Ink Shaman, Master Unduli has a variation the same back tattoo, and her master before her and so on. It's supposed to represent the whole teaching line.

And in the future, should Barriss' Mirialan padawan be knighted, they would get a version of it too. Dismay fills Barriss's chest at the thought, quickly chased by guilt. If she were as good a Jedi as they say she is, then she wouldn't feel so negatively about that at all.

Barriss follows an attendant past the public area of the bathhouse to one of the private rooms. The attendant opens the door for her and stands to the side to let her in, saying, "This is the bath assigned for Senator Chuchi's use. Please enjoy."

It's a smaller room, with a built-in tub recessed into the stone floor. It's deep, and wide, and already full of bubbling, hot water. There's a short stool, a shower, and a cabinet full of supplies. The attendant leaves, shutting the door behind her. Barriss turns the lock, and the click sounds through the empty room.

_"Uh, hey Barriss? Thanks for saying all that."_ Ahsoka voice comes unbidden from the back of Barriss' mind.

Barriss lathers a sponge and scrubs and scrubs and scrubs.

How can she be trusted to teach a padawan while she's harboring these thoughts about the Jedi Order? The day she became a knight was the day she received petitions from multiple younglings to be her padawan, and it ate her up inside that she had to turn them all away. She dreads the end of this mission, because when the mission ends, she'll have to return to the Jedi Temple, and when she returns to the Temple, then she'll have to ship out on another tour of duty. If Barriss has to serve another tour…_something_ bad will happen. She doesn't know what exactly it will be, but she does know that she will vehemently dislike it.

The Jedi Council may think that the Clone Wars are necessary to bring peace and justice to the galaxy, and Barriss loathes to disagree with the Jedi Council, but she has learned that theory and practice can be two very different things. Through her role as a commander and a general, Barriss has wrought nothing but death and devastation despite her best efforts, and she is in no hurry to feel so impotent again.

Barriss scrubs until the water at her feet turns brown, until her skin goes raw, and yet she continues.

If she's not going to fight in this insipid war, then she'll have to do something else, but what? She cannot simply be a conscientious objector and sit idle in the Temple. She needs to be out here, traveling the galaxy and solving problems, like what she's been doing this past week. But the Jedi Council suspended all of those kinds of missions when the war started so that every Jedi could pull their weight in the war effort.

Peace within and peace without. That's what the Force ultimately wants. That's what the Code is for.

If Barriss wants the slightest chance at inner peace, she will need to leave the Jedi Order. Shame floods every nerve of her body. She was once the most promising padawan of her class and now look at her; couldn't even hack it as a knight for one mission. Life outside of the Order is also a terrifying blank. She has no plan, no inkling of what it would look like, but still prefers it to serving in this war. How could she think of doing that? How could she find comfort in leaving even now? What would Master Unduli think? What would she _say?_

Is that why Barriss is trying to flay herself alive?

Barriss throws the sponge down upon the floor, where it lands with a wet splat.

_"I've kind of felt like that for a while too, and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one." _

That's what Ahsoka said. Whatever happened on Zygerria, it must have been truly awful, because the Ahsoka that left for that mission was markedly different than the one that came back. The whole Order talked about it, and Barriss heard that the Council was debating on whether or not to call Ahsoka in for an intervention. If Ahsoka continued in that path, it would lead right out the Temple door.

But Ahsoka could just be lashing out until she centers herself once more. It's not the first time a Jedi has come back to the Temple troubled, and she won't be the last. She's well-liked, and she's reliable. Everyone expects great things from her, and they expect her to rise above the turmoil she's quagmired in.

If Ahsoka is as resilient as her reputation says, she'll recover, and she'll stay, and one day she'll even be a Jedi Master.

Barriss dunks herself into the hot bath, splashing water everywhere.

It pains her to think it, but when she leaves the Order, she'll leave alone. She'll find a way to make it work. She has to.

Barriss emerges from the water, gasping and sputtering.

* * *

It is late in the evening by the time Barriss returns to the suite. Her clothes have been freshly washed, but she carries them under her arm and wears a set of the offered pajamas instead. Despite being indoors, the Pantoran winter cold has penetrated through the old walls of the monastery, and everyone still out at this late hour hurries down the halls to their own rooms, where it might be warm. Barriss closes the door behind her.

The suite is rather plain as befits the lifestyle of the monastery, with just a wardrobe, a dresser, a table, and a bed. The bed takes up most of the room, that's how wide it is, and it's draped in furs. A single ceiling lamp lights up the entire space. Ahsoka, already dressed in a sleep tank and shorts, is sitting up on one side of the bed, and Riyo is obscured by the open wardrobe door.

"But I don't know what else we could do," Ahsoka is in the middle of saying. She looks up. "Hey, Barriss. I was telling Riyo about what we—uh, what we didn't find today."

Barriss drapes her dress and cloak over a nearby chair. "We could possibly ask the High Priestess for a list of people who have access to the hospital. Anyone on that list is automatically a suspect."

"That's a good idea."

Riyo closes the door of the wardrobe with a small push to catch the latch. She's changed into a set of sleep clothes similar to the set Barriss wears, only they're a bit too big for her, so the sleeves cover her hands and pool around her feet. Her light purple hair tumbles down her back. "Not all locks are opened with keys. Since the monastery uses old, metal keys, I humbly suggest looking for any scratch marks around the keyholes. I also suggest requesting a list of guests specializing in locksmithing or theft."

"Theft," Barriss repeats. "They would knowingly house career thieves here?"

Riyo shrugs. "Mother Moon takes care of all of Her children, bad or otherwise."

Barriss goes back to the door and locks it, then pulls a chair under the handle to jam it closed.

"Right, time to sleep." Riyo climbs into the middle of the bed beside Ahsoka and makes herself comfortable. Ahsoka watches her with wide eyes.

"Uh…."

But Riyo looks at Barriss and pats the pillow beside her. "Barriss? There's plenty of room."

"If-if there's a couch…" Barriss begins, but Riyo hums and raises the furs in invitation.

"None of that. Pantoran families sleep in the same bed for warmth. I shared one with my sisters before I came to Coruscant, and we'll share one now, so come to bed. It's late."

"Oh. Then in that case…." Ahsoka gathers Riyo in her arms and nuzzles her ear. Riyo shrieks with delight, grinning.

"Ahsoka! Haha! That tickles."

Barriss turns away as her face grows hot and her stomach does a funny flip. She doesn't know why she's feeling so weirdly about this; she's shared beds with others before without issue. She turns out the lights, then feels her way to the side of the bed, but hesitates.

Ahsoka eases her hold on Riyo and looks up at Barriss. The Force between them is light and warm and it tugs on her chest.

"There's a lot of room," Ahsoka gently says. Barriss is hard-pressed to disagree. She yanks off her hood and climbs in, but despite the chill of the bed, she stays at the very edge, facing away. She pulls the furs up until they cover even her ears, and lays there as the sheets slowly sap the heat from her body. Barriss stays there until a warm hand presses against the middle of her back.

"You're shivering," Ahsoka whispers, and her hand smoothes up Barriss's spine until it settles between her shoulder blades.

But before Barriss can relax, Ahsoka's hand disappears, leaving behind a strange energy that coils in her belly. Barriss turns over to face them. She can barely make them out in the dark, but Ahsoka's eyes glow an unnatural green. According to her studies, the insides of Togruta eyes are coated with reflective cells to equip them to see better in the dark, but nothing in her medical data cards have truly prepared her for a practical example.

Barriss shivers again, but this time is has nothing to do with the temperature.

Perhaps it would not be such a bad thing to be close. Catching a cold _would_ be incredibly inconvenient, and she _was_ invited. Barriss scoots forward to lay against Riyo, who shifts to better accomodate her. Riyo drapes an arm over her waist and her cheek rests against Barriss's shoulder with a sigh.

And there, watching over the top of Riyo's head, is Ahsoka. After a long moment, her eyes shut, casting the room in darkness.

It's not unpleasant. It might even be nice. Barriss buries her face in the pillow to hide her burning face.

* * *

Barriss wakes up, dazed, feeling as if she has been submerged in icy water, and she gasps against the ominous pressure filling the entirety of the darkened room. Then, as Barriss's eyes adjust, Ahsoka comes into focus. She's already awake, and is gently rolling Riyo onto Barriss for safe keeping. Riyo sleeps on, oblivious to what is happening, but Barriss clutches at her all the same.

"What is that?" Barriss asks in a hushed voice. She cannot see the danger, but by the Force, whatever it is must be dealt with _this instant_. Either that, or they need to flee out the window.

Ahsoka retrieves one of her lightsabers from under her pillow and gets up.

"It's the Dark Side of the Force. Stay here," she whispers.

That's what's petrified Barriss? That's what's stealing the breath from her lungs? _The Dark Side?_ Barriss watches, helpless, as Ahsoka sneaks her way to the door. The handle is jiggling and creaking and turning, and Barriss realizes: the lock is being picked.

The lock is being picked with the Force, not unlike how Barriss has been fiddling with those durasteel padlocks in her spare time. Apart from herself and Ahsoka, no one in this monastery should be powerful enough to do that. _No one._ Is the Dark Side boosting their power?

Ahsoka flattens herself against the wall next to the door and holds her lightsaber so that the emitter points across the doorway. She holds it at a height where if whoever it was on the other side burst through, and if Ahsoka turned the lightsaber on at that moment, the blade would go right through the intruder's head. Ahsoka waits.

The lock clicks open, and the doorknob turns.

THUD.

The door is blocked by the jammed chair.

Another thud, louder this time. Riyo stirs in Barriss's arms, but she tucks her face into Barriss's neck and falls back asleep with a sigh. She doesn't know how Riyo can sleep through the intrusion, let alone through the frantic beat of her loper heart.

The door closes with a click and is still. The air lightens until Barriss can breathe normally again, and Ahsoka relaxes and drops her arm to her side.

Barriss does not use profanity, as Jedi should strive to be as professional as possible at all times, but this event is seriously jeopardizing her stance on the subject.

Ahsoka locks the door again, then returns to bed. She settles back down with a long breath and tucks her lightsaber under her pillow. "I think we can get rid of the guests as suspects. The body snatcher must be a priestess."

"That was the Dark Side," Barriss whispers. She feels a little useless, now that the danger has passed. She should have been able to do something instead of cowering in bed.

"Yeah, it's pretty scary right?" Ahsoka whispers.

"You've felt it before?"

"Yeah, because I fight Asajj Ventress all the time. It took me a while to get used to it."

Barriss stares. "You fight Sith all the time?"

A pleased, but embarrassed twinge comes through their Force Bond. Ahsoka covers her face with her hands.

"It's not a big deal; I haven't won against her yet."

Now that she mentions it, Barriss remembers Luminara telling her about a duel she fought with Ahsoka against Ventress. She said that she personally should have done better, but Barriss now wonders if she couldn't do her best because she was struggling to overcome the sheer intimidation of the Dark Side.

"We'll talk about it in the morning. I'm tired," Ahsoka whispers.

With Riyo moved to Barriss' other side, there's more room for Ahsoka to come closer, and she does. She rearranges the furs around them, then nestles in against Barriss's side. Her hand closes over Barriss' hip, with her thumb resting along the razor of the bone.

Ahsoka smells of the clean pine of the Pantoran forest, and of the sharp electric of the lightsaber. Wild and powerful.

"Are you okay?" Ahsoka gently asks.

Ahsoka's arm is heavy over Barriss' stomach, and her breath brushes against her ear. Barriss is definitely more than okay, but that isn't an appropriate answer. "Yes," she whispers instead.

* * *

Morning is different. Bright sunlight streams in through the curtains as it's reflected off the layer of newly-fallen snow, and the only cold is the kind that comes from the weather, and not from the nature of a fellow creature.

When Ahsoka wakes, it's to find herself hopelessly tangled with Barriss. She took off her hood to sleep, and her shoulder-length, dark brown hair flares over the pillow. She's still asleep, with her cheek pressed against Ahsoka's lek.

On Barriss' other side is Riyo. She's already awake, but stays in bed with them and lazily scrolls through her data pad. Riyo's gold eyes flicker up at her, and she smiles.

"Good morning," Riyo softly says. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," Ahsoka says. In fact, she hadn't slept so well in weeks, and she wonders if it's due to the company and not so much the mattress itself. It's nice, lounging like this. There is no urgency. No danger. She doesn't want to leave.

But to Ahsoka's dismay, Riyo nods and moves to get up. Ahsoka's hand moves, unbidden, to tug her back, but she clenches onto the sheets instead. Riyo goes to the wardrobe and pulls it open, and Ahsoka looks to Barriss.

Maybe they should get up.

Ahsoka smoothes a lock of hair from Barriss' face, and it's enough. Barriss stirs in Ahsoka's arms and blinks awake.

"Hey," Ahsoka whispers.

Barriss makes a face and pulls the furs over her head.

Eventually, they all get up, and change back into their snow gear, and as Barriss adjusts her hood over her hair, she asks, "would you like to join us for our investigation, Riyo? Not all of our suspects may speak Basic, and you could translate for us. And you have a cultural insight that Ahsoka and I lack."

Ahsoka is so relieved that Barriss has a plan. Despite her friendship with Master Tera Sinube, and despite his willingness to train her in the art of investigation, the war didn't give her any time to pursue it, and crime on Coruscant steadily worsened to the point where Master Sinube was swamped with cases.

When Barriss volunteered to investigate the body snatchers, Ahsoka didn't have the slightest clue of where to start and how to do it. In fact, she's pretty sure that Barriss hasn't taken any training for this either. But here she is, acting like she's done this multiple times before.

They'll find this guy…girl…whoever it is. They'll totally catch them, even if they're high on the power of the Dark Side and hiding their aura to escape detection.

"Of course," Riyo says. "What do we do first?"

"There is always the direct way of finding the suspect: whoever has the bodies is the thief," Barriss says.

"Okay, so where could we find the bodies?" Ahsoka asks.

"In order to answer that, we must think about what the bodies have been doing all this time; mainly what stage of decay are the bodies currently in," Barriss says.

Riyo's face scrunches up. "Decay."

"Yes, I had to study the process as part of my medical training. By now, the first stolen body would be putrefying, and so would be extremely difficult to hide," Barriss says.

"So we search any stinky places, even places that are supposed to stink, like the dumpsters, or a compost pile," Ahsoka says.

"And even though this isn't the cultural norm, we must consider the possibility of the bodies being buried."

"If the bodies were buried, I'll find them," Ahsoka says. Togruta don't have the best sense of smell, but it's way better than a Pantoran's or a Mirialan's.

"If the bodies are buried, then we will have to rope the entire monastery into combing the surrounding area, and I'd like to avoid that if possible. There is another possibility we should look into first," Barriss says.

"What is it?" Riyo asks.

"You won't like it. In order to keep the bodies from decaying, they'd have to be stored somewhere cool, like in the cafeteria conservator."

Riyo recoils. "Gross!"

For dinner yesterday, Ahsoka went to the cafeteria and had several cuts of 'pork.' They were delicious at the time, but now, Ahsoka's stomach heaves. She swallows the bile that rises in her throat.

"Are you all right?" Barriss asks.

"Ugh. What if I ate people?" Ahsoka asks. Barriss doesn't even blink.

"Technically, you and Riyo and I are all different species, so it isn't taboo for us. Riyo, however, would be a cannibal."

"You've thought about it a lot, huh?"

"Ever since the possibility came up yesterday. I suppose you could say that the scenario is…distasteful."

Silence. Barriss scoffs.

"Oh, so you two can crack jokes, but I can't. I see."

Riyo reaches out and touches Barriss' arm. "No, no, it was a good joke, but…cannibalism. Anyway, no one is being labeled a people-eater until there is evidence." Riyo grimaces and gathers the material of her coat in her fist, right at the level of her stomach. "Can we please investigate the cafeteria already?"

The cafeteria is busy with priestesses and guests and loud with the clink of cutlery against bowls. At the other end of the cafeteria, near the kitchen, is a large pot of hot cereal, a jug of milk, other toppings for the cereal, and a large basket full of dried cuts of fish. There's a long line of people waiting for the food, but Ahsoka and Riyo follow Barriss past them all to the kitchen.

There are only two priestesses beyond the double doors. They're wearing aprons, and the billowing sleeves of their robes are tied up so that they're out of the way. The priestesses turn to the three of them with surprise and say something to them in Pantoran.

"Mholo ngalentsasa. Uphi ifriji?" Riyo asks. The priestesses point to a large durasteel door on the other side of the kitchen.

"Thank you," Riyo says. "The conservator is just there."

Barriss walks to the durasteel door and opens it with ease, revealing a walk-in conservator full of boxes and bags of food. Ahsoka and Riyo follow her in, and Ahsoka kneels down to jam a wood wedge under the door to keep it from closing behind them. Barriss raises her hood against the chill of the conservator and regards the packaged cuts of meat with skepticism.

Outside, the two priestesses are joined by other priestesses and volunteers that follow them in from the dining area. They gather outside the door of the conservator and gossip in hushed voices.

"Don't let them in here," Barriss says, and they begin to search the conservator. Riyo goes to make sure their audience keeps a respectable distance.

The cuts of meat are looked at first. To the relief of everyone, Riyo, Ahsoka, and Barriss all agree that they come from actual beef and pork. These cuts are pulled off of the shelves and put to the side. The boxes and bags of other perishables are pulled off the shelves, identified as not Pantoran bodies, and are placed outside of the conservator in a pile. The crowd of onlookers grows, but stays well out of the way as the three girls work.

But before they can clean out the entire conservator, Ahsoka finds a mass of bundled plastoid sheets hiding behind a couple boxes of potatoes on the bottom shelf. She pauses, filled with dread. Even though the plastoid sheets are opaque, the Force is already warning her away. There isn't anything else it could be.

"Uh, you guys? I think this is it." Ahsoka points at the plastoid bundle. Barriss kneels down next to her, and Riyo comes over to look.

Barriss stares at the bundle with a determined scowl. "Perhaps you're right. Together?"

Ahsoka nods. "Together."

They reach out and grab the plastoid sheet, then pull it off the shelf. The bundle flops onto the floor of the conservator, and Barriss holds her hand out to Riyo.

"Your knife, please."

Riyo hands it over handle-first, and Barriss uses the tip of the blade to cut through the bungee chords holding the plastoid together. She also slices through the top layers of plastoid, making them crinkle, and when she's done, she gives the knife back. Barriss pulls the plastoid away to reveal the body of a young man.

HURK. Behind them, one of the onlookers turns away and vomits into a bucket. Riyo gasps and covers her mouth.

"Oh dear," Barriss whispers. She looks back to the shelf, and Ahsoka follows her gaze to a similar, smaller bundle of plastoid.

"That must be the other missing body," Ahsoka says.

* * *

The two bodies are put onto gurneys, which are then wheeled across to the hospital. The three of them are followed by a swelling crowd of onlookers, all chattering amongst themselves and straining to snap a holopic with their data pads. Riyo stays behind to turn them away at the door. Good. Ahsoka and Barriss aren't putting on a show for these people, they're trying to determine what happened.

The deceased deserve more respect than that.

Once they're safe and alone in the hospital room, Ahsoka steps off to the other side of the gurney to give Barriss room to inspect the bodies.

Barriss unbuttons her cuffs and rolls up her sleeves, revealing a neat grid of lumen on her forearms, then pulls on a pair of latex gloves. She also hands a pair of gloves to Ahsoka. "Please put these on."

"Sure thing, Master Offee," Ahsoka says. She pulls the gloves over her vambraces with a snap, and grins at the slight blush that graces Barriss' cheeks.

"I don't think I will ever get used to being addressed like that," Barriss mutters. She rolls the bodies up onto their sides for a cursory glance, then sets them back down on the gurneys and picks up a scalpel. "The good news is that both bodies are completely intact."

Ahsoka breathes a sigh of relief. "So they weren't harvested for meat."

"Our diet remains sentient-free," Barriss says. Ahsoka gives a weak smile.

"So what now? Are you gonna take them apart?"

"In a manner of speaking. In order to understand our thief, we must determine why they stole these bodies. If they didn't steal them for food, then they must have stolen them for some other purpose. I'll have to open them up to see if they stole them to hide any clues of foul play."

"Murder," Ahsoka says. Barriss nods.

"But if they were murdered, then wouldn't the murderer just dump the bodies in the woods instead? Wouldn't that be easier?"

The scalpel pauses over the man's chest, and Barriss looks up at her with her mouth open.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Ahsoka. That's a brilliant observation."

Ahsoka's stomach flips again, but for an entirely different reason this time. "Thanks."

"Perhaps our thief isn't as smart as they seem. We'll soon find out." Barriss leans over the corpse and draws a single smooth line along the bottom of the clavicle and down in an arc along the sternum and the belly. She does a similar cut for the other side of the chest until the lines meet in the middle of the sternum, then places the scalpel on a tray with the other tools.

Barriss pinches the slabs of flesh between her fingers and thumbs and peels them away. Easy. Riyo may have butchered that seal the other night, but this is entirely different. Elegant even.

"Kark," Ahsoka breathes. Barriss' eyes flicker up to meet hers before looking at the guts laid bare before them.

"It _is_ a bit gruesome," Barriss says, mistaking Ahsoka's awe for something else entirely. She holds the flesh open with a set of locking forceps, then delves in with her hands and gingerly moves the organs around, sometimes prodding them to test the texture. Now and then she'll hum under her breath, but she doesn't explain what she's doing.

"Do you want to come with me when I leave the Jedi Order?" Ahsoka asks.

Barriss blanches and she leans back, absolutely scandalized. "What? Ahsoka, I'm wrist deep in this man! This is hardly the time."

"Phrasing."

_"Ahsoka!" _

"Okay, sorry. But I think this is the perfect time. We're alone, and you're kinda distracted." Ahsoka crosses her arms over her chest.

"I'd like to give an offer like that the attention and consideration it deserves."

"So you'd consider it? Not just say 'no' outright?"

Barriss pauses, then bows her head. "It's the only thing we've ever known. What would drive you away from that?"

Ahsoka takes a deep breath to steel herself and begins to talk.

"If there's anything I've learned on Zygerria, it's that a lot more people don't care about the war than the amount of people who do. It doesn't matter if the Republic or the Separatists win the war, because either way, people suffer as slaves. The Order had more than a thousand years to abolish slavery throughout the galaxy, and they didn't do it. They refused to do it, and they still refuse to do it even though they could if they pushed hard enough. They wouldn't do it even though slavery goes against the Code.

"Now that I know that this kind of thing is going on, I can't fight in the war, because I have to do something to end slavery. But the Council isn't going to greenlight a mission like that. I've asked. You probably know this. The entire Order must have heard about it by now."

Barriss gives a solemn nod. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is set in a worried frown.

"If I can't free slaves as a Jedi, then I'll have to do it as a civilian." Ahsoka falters, her throat going tight. She coughs into her elbow. "I-uh, I know that you have a really good thing going with the Order right now. Like you're one of the best healers in history, and everyone likes you, and they say that you're on the fast-track for a Master title even though you just got knighted, but I thought…. You know, the stuff you said yesterday?" Ahsoka looks down at the corpse without really seeing it, because she can't bear to look at Barriss. She must be so disgusted. Yeah, Barriss said all that stuff yesterday, but it doesn't mean she wants to _leave the Jedi Order_. And if Barriss was in any way disappointed, Ahsoka couldn't stand it.

"Ahsoka," Barriss whispers, but Ahsoka nervously babbles on.

"I just thought I'd ask, and if-uh, please don't be mad because I asked. You mean a lot to me and well…."

"Ahsoka."

"You know what? Never mind. Forget I asked, it was a dumb question."

"Ahsoka."

A sort of pat comes from the Force Bond, as gentle as a hand on her arm, and Ahsoka's mouth closes with a snap. The Force settles around them like a blanket and Ahsoka quietly marvels at how safe she feels despite where they are. Ahsoka reluctantly lifts her gaze.

Barriss' blue eyes are clear and sure, and she watches Ahsoka with a softness that Ahsoka hasn't seen on her face before.

"Yes," Barriss says. There must be something wrong with Ahsoka's montrals because that's what she hears.

"What?"

"Yes, I will come with you when you leave the Order." The corners of Barriss' mouth quirk up.

"You mean it?" Ahsoka asks.

"Yes!"

Ahsoka is strongly tempted to whoop in this tiny hospital room. Her heart feels as if it's overflowing fit to burst, and she laughs.

Barriss said she'd leave the Jedi Order with her. She said that. And her aura was genuine when she said it, too.

While Ahsoka would have left anyway if Barriss said 'no,' it's an incredible relief to know that she won't be leaving her behind.

Barriss smiles. "Although I wish you'd chosen a better venue for this. You look like you need a hug and it'd be highly inappropriate to do that here."

The both of them look down at the dead body stretched out between them.

"Yeah. We should probably get back to it," Ahsoka says.

"Are you sure?"

"We can talk more later."

Barriss nods and shifts her weight. "This man overdosed on spices, just like Priestess Lindiwe said."

"Then there was no foul play," Ahsoka says.

"No murder." Barriss withdraws her hands and makes the body presentable again. The forceps go back onto the tray along with the scalpel.

"So the only things these two people have in common was that they were young and they died unexpectedly," Ahsoka says. "Do you have any ideas, because I'm having trouble coming up with a motive for this."

"It is vexing. We'll just have to investigate more. Perhaps Riyo can translate the patient files for us." Barriss drapes a cloth over the body and removes her gloves. She tosses them into the trash can.

* * *

High Priestess Estuuya's office is full of file cabinets and shelves of data cards. There is a small shrine on a table near the door, complete with a ceramic figurine of the Moon Goddess and a couple thick candles. There are dried flowers scattered around it, as well as an incense burner with a few chunks of crumbled ash still gathered in the bottom of the dish. Ahsoka wrinkles her nose. The entire office smells like the herbs used in the Moon Goddess Temple, and in the shrines scattered throughout the monastery. It's not a bad smell, it's just too strong for her taste. She can barely make out anything else.

Barriss and Riyo sit in the guest chairs, waiting. Estuuya hasn't arrived yet, so they're alone in the office. Barriss takes a deep breath, and her jittery aura settles a bit.

"Chin up," she whispers.

"Chin up, shoulders back," Riyo repeats. "The High Priestess will initially address me, but I will defer to you for the rest of the conversation."

"Right." Barriss takes another deep breath and straightens up in her chair. She puts on a brave face.

Estuuya comes into the office and closes the door behind her, then goes to her seat behind the desk. "Senator, Master Jedi. Thank you for finding the missing bodies. We'll finally be able to give their families some closure." She sits down in her chair and regards the three of them with an air of solemnity.

"Senator, have you and your friends discovered what is wrong with my monastery?"

"Alas, that is not my expertise, Reverend Mother. Jedi Knight Barriss Offee is in charge of that." Riyo gestures to Barriss, who seems petrified for a moment.

"Our suspect pool includes the more powerful priestesses living in this monastery," Barriss finally says.

"Then I am a suspect." Estuuya says this as a matter of fact, without any hint of offense.

"Yes," Barriss reluctantly says. "Please tell us where you were during the thefts."

"I and a few trusted priestesses were away in Retribution for the past month, to aid the Brothers of Blood. Winter is their busy season, and the city receives a larger influx of Snow Walkers than they usually get throughout the rest of the year. They always need a few extra hands to get everything set up to receive these pilgrims." Estuuya pulls open the top drawer of her desk and pulls out a folder. She opens it up and pushes a couple flimsies over the desk to them. Riyo picks them up and holds them to the light to better see.

"The Brothers of Blood?" Ahsoka asks. That name is severely cool.

"An order of priests who serve the Blizzard God. You could describe our two orders as 'Sister Orders,'" Estuuya says.

Riyo offers Barriss the flimsies, but Barriss gently turns her down, so she summarizes. "These are a travel itinerary and stamped travel flimsies, and this is a ticket stub."

"The Travel Authority of Retribution will have records of my arrival and departure. I can also provide you with a list of the priestesses who travelled with me," Estuuya says.

Riyo gives the flimsies back to Estuuya, who puts them away.

"I returned to the monastery two days ago, hours after the second theft occurred," Estuuya says.

"Before you left, did you notice anything strange? Anything out of place, or anyone behaving oddly?" Barriss asks.

Ahsoka comes forward and leans against the top of Barriss' chair. "Did you _feel_ something? Sense something _wrong_?"

Estuuya's gold eyes narrow. "There was something. Before I left for Retribution, while I was deep in breath with Mother Moon, I received a terrible premonition. One of my daughters would offer tribute of the most heinous nature and had to be stopped. There was no sign of when it would come to pass, so I foolishly thought I had more time to intervene, but apparently not. I returned to find my monastery in dire spirits."

"Did the vision pinpoint a specific priestess?" Barriss asks. Estuuya shakes her head.

"Just the robes we wear. I could not point her out if I tried. Is there anything else you wish to know?"

Estuuya, Riyo, and Ahsoka all turn to Barriss, whose eyebrows go up.

"Er, no. You are hereby cleared of suspicion, Reverend Mother."

"Thank the Gods. Please feel free to use this office as a base of operations during your investigation, Master Jedi." Estuuya drops a heavy keyring onto the desk and gets to her feet.

"Oh, we couldn't possibly impose," Barriss begins, but Estuuya holds up a hand.

"My old bones could use the fresh air. Let no one refuse your summons, Master Jedi. I give you leave to question anyone and to search the entire premises. Please find this misguided soul." Estuuya makes her way out of the office again.

Barriss hesitates, then stands and picks the keyring up. Riyo watches her with a crinkled brow.

"What do we do now? There are too many priestesses here for us to question. We have to narrow down the suspect pool somehow."

Barriss walks behind the desk and looks out the window. "Do priestesses have Force Powers like we do? For example: can they manipulate objects using their minds?"

"No, nothing like that. According to Kupun, and to the sacred texts, priests and priestesses can sense how other people feel, and have an uncanny intuition that bad things are about to happen, and they can heal, but that's about it," Riyo says.

Barriss turns and tosses the keyring to Ahsoka, who snatches it out of the air. "Could we unlock the file cabinets with that?"

Ahsoka flips through the keyring until she finds one that matches the same color and material as the cabinet locks. She pinches it between her finger and thumb and holds it up. "Yeah. Why?"

"We know a lot more about our suspect than we think. She's powerful enough to manipulate the Force in ways that are beyond the grasp of most of the priestesses here. We're looking for someone who regularly demonstrates this level of control. Hopefully, it's just the sort of thing that would be noted in their files," Barriss says.

"Gods, that's brilliant," Riyo breathes. Barriss smiles at her.

"Shall we begin?"

Ahsoka tosses the keyring back to Barriss, who catches it with both hands. "You know, you could just open it, right?"

"Ha ha." With a wave of Barriss' hand, all of the cabinet locks click open.

Riyo's eyebrows go up. "You're getting quite good at that."

"Thank you, Riyo. Can you please start on these?" Barriss pulls open the drawers and lifts out several files at a time. She puts these on the desk in stacks.

"I haven't done this much reading since law school," Riyo mutters, but she sits behind the desk all the same and pulls the stack nearer to her.

Ahsoka and Barriss fall into a rhythm of giving Riyo files and taking discarded files back to the cabinets. Riyo skims faster than the both of them can work, and she asks a few clarifying questions about who might fit their profile, but the search proves fruitless. Even if Estuuya and the leading priestesses are capable of visions, they aren't able to do anything more strenuous than that.

But then Riyo opens the next file and comes to a complete stop, staring at the flimsi inside. Ahsoka dumps the last stack of files on the desk and looks over her shoulder. Unlike the rest of the files, this one contains a scanned copy of a document. _Coruscanti Passport_ is printed across the scan in bold Aurebesh, and underneath it is an old holograph of a teenage Pantoran girl and the Jedi EduCorps logo. Judging by the expiration date of the passport, the copy is more than a decade old.

"What is it?" Barriss looks over Riyo's other shoulder, and she gasps.

"I didn't know there could be Jedi all the way out here. Is she the one we're looking for?" Ahsoka asks.

"Possibly. We're almost done going through all the files," Barriss says.

Riyo checks the chrono on Estuuya's desk. "I know where she is, and she's indisposed for now. Before we take her in for questioning, or present our findings to the High Priestess, we must find decisive evidence that the suspect is our thief."

* * *

Ahsoka, and Barriss follow Riyo through the priestess' dorms. By now, the priestesses are elsewhere in the monastery, and the dorms are quiet and empty. When Riyo finds the correct door, they stop and wait. Ahsoka goes through Estuuya's keyring for the dorm master key.

"This feels kinda wrong," Ahsoka says as she searches. There are keys of all shapes and metals on this ring, and even though some are marked in Aurebesh, it's in Pantoran, so she's reduced to guesstimating. Ahsoka tries one of the keys, but it doesn't fit.

"As Riyo said, we must find evidence before we can confidently arrest our suspect, and the High Priestess gave us permission to conduct our investigation as we see fit," Barriss says, but the look on her face says that she might feel otherwise.

"It isn't illegal if we have the key, if that makes it better," Riyo says.

"You say this as if you wouldn't suggest it regardless, and then retroactively apply some legal mumbo jumbo," Barriss says. Riyo bats her eyes at her.

"You know me so well."

Ahsoka tries again, but the second one doesn't work either. "What if we just open it?" She asks.

"Nope. Not this time. Looking at files in an office is one thing, but this is someone's private quarters. Permission or no, I'd like to be covered," Riyo says, so Ahsoka continues her search.

"It's this one. I have a good feeling about it." Ahsoka slides the key into the lock and turns.

CLICK. It turns without a hitch, and Ahsoka slowly opens the door and goes in.

The dorm room resembles the suite they stayed in last night, only much smaller. Ahsoka takes a deep breath and smells the same incense and soap used throughout the rest of the monastery.

"What are we looking for?" Ahsoka asks.

"Anything that a priestess should not have." Barriss goes to the desk and pulls out the drawers, then pauses. "I'm suddenly aware that I don't know what a priestess shouldn't have."

Riyo crosses the room to stand at Barriss' side. "They are allowed their own possessions. Holographs, data cards, a diary." She falters and shares a look with Barriss, then the both of them rummage through the desk. There are bundles of handwritten flimsies that Riyo skims through, complete with lists, and diagrams. She sorts them into stacks until all the flimsies are accounted for, then goes through the piles.

"Those stacks are irrelevant, but these are notes on healing," here, Riyo lays a hand on one of the stacks, "and these are essays analyzing the Pantoran Pantheon." She touches a second stack.

"That doesn't sound very incriminating," Ahsoka says.

"Yes, except the notes on healing include the power-boosting benefits of Bota and the theoretical possibility of resurrection. The religious essays go from simple summaries for kids to an entire manifesto. The most alarming is the most recent one." Riyo pulls a few flimsies from the bottom of the stack. "This one proclaims Mother Moon as the strongest and most important god in the pantheon, which is true, but then it goes on to say that we should discard the rest, and that She should be the only god we should be worshipping."

"Wait! Wait, one second. _What?_" Ahsoka asks. Barriss mentioned Bota once; a rare, powerful drug that was said to make anyone, even a non-sensitive, as powerful as a Jedi Master. Barriss only knew about it because the Council discussed putting together a medical research team to investigate it, and her name was on the team roster.

"She stole the bodies so that she could resurrect them? Why?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo chews on her lip as she skims the flimsi further. "If she could undo death, then it would vindicate her thesis. From an academic perspective, it is a fascinating premise, if also hideously abominable. It is enough to make an arrest." Riyo gathers the flimsies and tucks them into her coat, then puts the other stacks back into the desk.

* * *

The classroom is full of small children. Priestess Aguta turns on a holoprojector, which shows two flickering designs. One is an indecipherable mess of overlapping designs that together somewhat resembles an eye. The other is a plain circle.

Beyond the open doorway of the classroom stand Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo, but they stand in a place where they won't be seen by anyone within the room. Riyo's distress is not-so-subtly broadcast through the Force, ruining whatever element of surprise they were hoping to have, but if Aguta really has sensed them, she's opted to ignore them in favor of finishing her class.

"What is she saying?" Barriss asks in a low voice.

"She's talking about tattoos," Riyo whispers back. She pauses to listen more, and then starts whispering in Basic while Aguta is saying.

"Mother Moon created the first Pantorans in Her image. The Trickster Goddex saw Her do this, and decided that They wanted to create too. They tried to copy Her, but it didn't turn out the same, because the Trickster is constantly changing shape. The Pantorans They created were all sorts of genders, and that is why we're all so different. Those who are descended from Pantorans created by Mother Moon have tattoos on the outside of their shoulders to honor her. Those who are descended from the Trickster have other tattoos in the same place. Families and clans have developed their own interpretations of the same tattoos, and that is why everyone's god tattoos are also so different." Riyo pauses, then says, "She's dismissing the children now."

A bunch of younglings stampede out of the classroom with their things, and as they run, they scream with excitement. They go to the adults waiting on the lawn beyond them and babble to them in Pantoran. Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo watch the scene before them unfold for a bit before a distracted voice calls out from inside the classroom.

"Did you come to get an education, Senator? Master Jedi?"

Ahsoka and Barriss straighten up at that.

"Stay here, Riyo. If something happens, close the door and don't let anyone in, no matter what." Barriss unbuckles her cloak and sets it on a nearby bench. Ahsoka pulls off her parka and lays it over the cloak, and she puts a hand on Riyo's shoulder.

"We'll be back soon."

Riyo puts her hand over Ahsoka's and squeezes. "I'll be waiting."

Ahsoka turns to Barriss and nods. They both go into the classroom. Aguta is sitting at her desk, looking through a pile of worksheets. In one hand, she holds a sheet of stickers, and she peels a sticker off the sheet and presses it to the top flimsi. She lowers the stickers and looks up at them.

"Hello, Master Jedi. I don't think we've been formally introduced. Please take a seat." Aguta gestures to the grouped tables set around the classroom.

"Thank you, Priestess, but we'd rather stand," Barriss says. Aguta's eyes narrow, and she finally gives them her full attention.

"What is this about, Master Jedi?"

"Priestess Aguta, you are under arrest for body snatching," Ahsoka says.

"I stole those bodies?" Aguta asks, incredulous.

"You did. We have irrefutable evidence. Please come with us to see the High Priestess," Barriss says.

"No. High Priestess Estuuya wouldn't understand how important my work is. You wouldn't. No one would." Aguta gives a sad smile and reaches into her robes. Ahsoka steps forward in warning, but Aguta stops her with a sharp look. She pulls out a vial of clear liquid and pops the lid off with her thumb. The cap clatters to the floor and rolls out of sight.

"Don't," Ahsoka says.

"When those children died in our medical ward, I knew they were sent to me by Mother Moon." Aguta holds the vial aloft. "They were young and fit. Their deaths were so unnecessary and could be so easily reversed."

Barriss takes a deep breath, as if to muster every bit of patience she possesses. "I strongly disagree," she says.

"All I needed was the Bota, but the timing was off, so I stowed them in the cafeteria freezer until I could get my hands on a dose," Aguta says.

"But then we found the bodies," Barriss says. Aguta's face twists in disgust.

"You found them and you _ruined_ them with your autopsy. All that work for nothing. But there is still hope yet. Death is everywhere, and I can always get more Bota." The more she talks, the cooler it feels until Ahsoka is sure that it isn't just due to the weather. The air is tainted with a bitter undercurrent of malice and anger.

"I won't tolerate any obstacles," Aguta says, and she downs the contents of the vial.

Just outside the classroom, Riyo kicks the door stopper aside and tugs the door loose.

CLICK. The heavy door swings shut, muffling the commotion outside.

Ahsoka leaps across the classroom, hoping to take Aguta off guard, but Aguta sends her flying with a flick of her wrist.

CRASH. Ahsoka lands on a desk, breaking it in half under her weight. One of the table legs bounces across the carpet.

"Come, Master Jedi! Let's see how the Order has fared in my absence." The hum of lightsabers fill the air. Ahsoka struggles to get up despite the pain shooting up and down her back. Wood shards and splinters drop to the floor as she gets to her knees.

"Ugh." Ahsoka staggers to her feet, but still hunches over.

Before Barriss was knighted, most of the other padawan agreed that she was one of the best technical Soresu practitioners in their class, and it shows now in her impeccable defense. Despite the sudden pressure of the Dark Side filling the entire room, and despite her spike of fear in the Force, Barriss is fighting rather well. As quickly as Aguta's lightsaber moves, Barriss' blade is always there to swat it away, or she dodges with a minimal amount of effort. Efficient. Clean. Basic.

Basic? Ahsoka frowns, confused, until she realizes that Barriss is using basic defenses against basic attacks and even from this distance, Ahsoka can almost sense her calculating in her head. But maybe she's right to be cautious. It doesn't matter how many techniques Aguta knows; what matters is that she knows them well, and that she's now powered by Bota.

Aguta laughs. "You're full of fear, Master Jedi! What kind of example is that to set for your padawan?"

Ahsoka summons her lightsabers into her hands and ignites them.

PSSHEW.

She leaps again, joining the fight. Aguta grits her teeth and somehow becomes faster, her irises turning red. For a few moments, there's nothing but the terrifying whir and snap of lightsabers, and the searing heat of plasma as the blades swing dangerously close to her skin. Barriss' defense becomes more conservative, if that's possible, but Ahsoka snarls and attacks even more.

Their lightsabers crackle and spark as they furiously trade blows, the tips of their blades sinking through the wood paneling of the classroom and painting them with burned streaks.

A good Ataru defense is constant offense; an opponent cannot mount an attack if they are overwhelmed. Anakin likes to joke that it's a generous style, and Ahsoka gives now. Her blade crashes down upon Aguta's lightsaber again and again, sending hot sparks everywhere and making all the blades flash. To the untrained, or unfamiliar eye, Ahsoka has totally sacrificed technique and has opened herself up to a counter-attack. That she has lost this fight. That she will die. As if on cue, Barriss' apprehension grows in the Force, and Aguta's grimace widens into a wicked smile.

They're wrong.

When Aguta twists her lightsaber in an arc to swing up through Ahsoka's jaw, Ahsoka raises her shoto lightsaber and blocks it. She also whirls her main blade around and up, and the tip slices clean through the blade emitter.

Ahsoka backs away as the emitter tumbles over the floor and disappears under the teacher's desk. The remains of the lightsaber spit sparks and Aguta hisses and drops the hilt. Barriss levels her blade at Aguta's throat.

"You are beaten. Yield."

Aguta's face twists and she shrieks. The teacher's desk, along with the remaining tables in the classroom, lift fully off the floor.

"Barriss!" Ahsoka envelops Barriss in a hug to protect her as the tables zoom towards them.

BOOM.

The wall of the classroom explodes out onto the frosted lawn outside, scattering bits of wood and sheets of flimsi everywhere. A broken table shoots through the jagged hole, narrowly misses a passerby, and sinks corner-first into the snow. A few chairs bounce a couple times before skidding to a rest on the ice. Both Barriss and Ahsoka fly through the hole and flop face-down onto the lawn.

The guests and the priestesses scream and bump into each other as they flee the courtyard, leaving it empty in seconds. A few of them scoop their children up so that they can run faster.

Every inch of Ahsoka's body is filled with pain. Nothing is broken…probably, but she's covered in dust and splinters and her montrals won't stop ringing. Barriss's groan comes from a few feet away. She kicks a plank of wood off of her and tries to sit up, but sighs and lays back down.

"Ahsoka? Are you all right?"

"No, I'm dead," Ahsoka says, her voice muffled by the snow. She's heard that Jedi are tough enough to survive being thrown through walls, but she's never felt a pressing need to actually test it out. That was _agonizing_. At least she was able to shield Barriss from the worst of it.

"Ahsoka," Barriss says again, chiding this time.

"Give…give me a minute. Please," Ahsoka says. At least until her montrals return to normal.

The door to the classroom opens and Aguta steps out, looking none the worse for their fight. She takes a long, thin stip of cloth from around her waist and winds it around her torso to tie up her long sleeves.

Ahsoka curses in Mando'a as she rolls over onto her back, squishing the snow beneath her. Stang, this is Bota? This is what Bota does? That's bonkers.

Barriss staggers to her feet. There's a rip in her purple hood and in one of her sleeves, but she doesn't seem to be bleeding. She glances around, but when she doesn't find any of their lightsabers, she raises her hands up and extends them forward, her fingertips pointed at Aguta, with her right hand slightly behind her left. Her elbows and hips are tucked in and she steps back with her right foot to present a streamlined profile.

Aguta steps out into the sunlight. "I was the most promising initiate of my year. The first to complete the Gathering. The winner of the Apprentice Tournament. But no one wanted me."

Barriss's eyes narrow, but Ahsoka gasps.

"I read about you! Ooh! You're famous in the Temple." Ahsoka scrambles to her feet and straightens up, but holds a hand against her montral when it twinges in protest.

"She is?" Barriss asks.

"I am?" Aguta asks.

"Well, you're a footnote in the records. Riyo once asked me if there were any Pantoran Jedi that she could network with, so I ran a search in the Archives. You must've changed your name since you left, but you're around the right age. Fifteen years ago, a Pantoran initiate won the Apprentice Tournament by killing her opponent. You killed him. No one wanted a piece of that ruthlessness," Ahsoka says.

Aguta's mouth thins into a savage line. "I was a literal child, and that was an accident. But I suppose the Order _would_ twist the truth like that. There is no such thing as forgiveness to a Jedi, and there is no room for mistakes. Tell me, Master Jedi. Are your records so spotless?"

BANG. The doors to the main monastery slam open, revealing Kupun and Riyo. Kupun runs out, her face wet with tears.

"Aguta! Priestess Aguta, they are saying you did it. That you stole those bodies. Is it true?"

Riyo lingers in the doorway, her face flushed. It looks as if she ran all the way to the other end of the monastery and back. Aguta stares at Kupun in astonishment and as she's distracted, Ahsoka slowly inches her way to block Riyo out of sight.

"Tell me it's not true!" Kupun shouts.

"It's true."

"No!" Kupun falls her knees, sobbing. "How could you do that?"

Aguta starts towards her, but Barriss steps forward, grabs her wrist, and pulls. She also slaps her other hand against Aguta's neck, making Aguta fall back. Barriss controls and twists her around until she's lying face-up on the grass, with her head tucked between Barriss' knees. Barriss presses her palm against Aguta's forehead and whispers.

"Go to sleep."

Aguta goes limp in Barriss' hold.

"No!" Kupun crawls over the lawn and kneels by Aguta. Barriss's gently lowers her down in the snow and steps away.

* * *

High Priestess Estuuya's office isn't large enough to hold this many people, but they all cram in anyway. Estuuya regards Barriss, who nervously fidgets in her seat as she explains what they have found during their investigation. Kupun sits in the other chair, her eyes red from crying. She can't stop sniffling, and she wipes her face from time to time with crumpled tissues she balls in her hands. Ahsoka and Riyo stand behind them, the both of them very solemn.

On the desk is the sheaf of flimsies that they gathered from Aguta's desk, along with the empty vial. Estuuya had skimmed the top page earlier, but lowered it in favor of listening to Barriss.

"Priestess Aguta will sleep off the effects of the Bota within a couple hours and when she awakes, she will be returned to her previous power level. In the meantime, she is being held by the other priestesses in an emptied store room." Barriss stops and clears her throat. She's been talking for the past half hour.

Estuuya removes her spectacles and rubs the bridge of her nose. "Thank you, Master Jedi. I have tasked you with finding the lost soul, and you have. It is discouraging to find out that it was Priestess Aguta who was responsible, but I think that was to be expected. It would have been disappointing regardless of who was behind the thefts." She puts her spectacles back on and they mimic her tattoos perfectly.

"Reverend Mother, what will happen to Priestess Aguta?" Kupun asks. Riyo winces and turns away, but Estuuya meets her with a steady gaze.

"I am afraid that something like this is unprecedented. I will have to petition guidance from our sisters in Benevolence City."

"But Reverend Mother! Priestess Aguta has sacrificed so much for the monastery," Kupun says. Estuuya holds up a hand.

"I shall strongly suggest rehabilitation, Dear Kupun. Never fear. If it is as the Jedi say, then the Aguta we know may still be returned to us in time."

Kupun brightens considerably at that, and Estuuya and turns to Riyo and the Jedi with a smile.

"The Mother Moon Priestesses owe you a great debt, my friends. _I_ owe you a great debt. How may we repay you?"

Riyo strokes her chin as she thinks. "We might need to be smuggled into Defiance, Reverend Mother. Is that possible to do?"

Estuuya raises an eyebrow. "Yes. Yes, it is."

* * *

Note Bene: This might be my favorite chapter of the entire story. It's so gay, and so much stuff happens, and there's only one bed.

Retribution is a city that contains the site of the first murder (according to the Pantoran sacred texts). It's the place that Snow Walkers all trek to on their pilgrimages. The Brothers of Blood have headquarters there, but also have outposts in tundras and in the woods, where Snow Walkers might go to commune with the Blizzard God. They're like rangers, and they patrol the areas to make sure no one freezes to death out in the wilderness.

Benevolence City is actually a small province ruled by the Mother Moon Priestesses, and not by the aristocracy. They have their own laws and their own citizenship, and they have a treaty with the Pantoran Assembly.

I might be fascinated with religion. I got to create an entire religion in this story, and then I got a kick out of exploring how it could be twisted and become grotesque with Aguta. I enjoyed the deconstruction very much. In retrospect, it's not really surprising that religion is a big theme throughout this story.

When Barriss sings the Mirialan translated Jedi Code in the temple, she's actually applying tajwid (tajweed) to it. I also gave Barriss Wing Chun Kung Fu. I mean, Soresu's supposed to be a defensive style, and Wing Chun's a self-defense system, so I thought, hey, what if Soresu looks like Wing Chun? She used it more in previous chapters, but I describe the stance in more detail this time.

You can find me on Tumblr under the username, Artyblogs. Feel free to drop a message or ask me questions about this story, or about my other stuff.

And hey. Thanks.


	8. Defiance, Pantora

Riyo could fit comfortably in any speeder trunk. Barriss probably could too. Fitting all three of them into a trunk at the same time? Nigh impossible, and yet here they are. Ahsoka's neck is bent at an odd angle and her legs are crammed into one corner of the trunk in order to fit. Riyo's legs are folded up to her chest, and Barriss' torso is twisted to what looks like an uncomfortable degree. But it doesn't seem to bother her at all.

"Mirialans have a average of thirty-five vertebrae, while most other near-human species have an average of thirty. This actually isn't that bad," Barriss had said. And thus they were all able to fit in this speeder trunk.

It's dark and cramped, and now and then they're jostled as the speeder goes over dips and bumps in the road. Five minutes into this, Ahsoka asks a question.

"You know how Aguta was kinda sorta off her rocker and how she thought she was doing the right thing? We're not…you know…_like her_, are we? We're not going Dark because we want to leave the Order, right?"

An uncomfortable silence fills the trunk fit to burst, which is impressive, considering how they're packed in here. Riyo doesn't need the Force to figure how uncomfortable Barriss must suddenly feel.

"You don't know how much I have agonized over that question, but while I'm still trying to finalize my counter-argument, at least I have one." Barriss pauses. "If we were to follow Priestess Aguta's example and succumb to the Dark, then we would use the Force to commit crimes against nature to strong-arm the Order into stopping the Clone Wars. But we're not going to do that. To attempt to do so would be delusional and horrific."

She pauses again.

"Barriss?" Riyo asks.

"Apologies, I just felt the strangest thing in the Force, but it's passed now. Did you feel it too, Ahsoka?"

"Yeah, weird. But it wasn't a premonition or anything. It's probably nothing," Ahsoka says. Barriss hums.

"As I was saying, we're not going to do that. Plenty people do their best to make the galaxy a better place and they do it without Force-sensitivity or the Order's blessing, and plenty of Jedi act without the Council's permission anyway."

Barriss beings to rattle off a list of AWOL Jedi and what they've done, and she and Ahsoka discuss these Jedi and how the path they're on isn't so unpaved after all, but it's hard to follow without context. Eventually, Riyo finds herself rocked to sleep.

"Why are we here?" Ahsoka asks, waking Riyo up. She doesn't know how long she's been asleep, but judging from the numb state of her legs, it must have been maybe half an hour.

Instead of stretching in such a small space, Riyo clenches her muscles for a few seconds and relaxes with a sigh. "Existentially?"

Ahsoka chuckles and shifts into a more comfortable position. "No, smart ass. Why are we in this trunk?"

Riyo smiles against Barriss's shoulder. "If this mysterious Patron was able to blanket the Breede River, then they can also blanket the perimeter of Defiance. If we just walked in, they would have to run my identichip and then they would find us. If the Mother Moon Priestesses smuggle us in like this, then my identichip wouldn't be run. We also wouldn't be spotted, so there won't be any chance of anyone recognizing us like Mrs. Kortzeer did."

"I'm also assuming that the Mother Moon Priestesses enjoy a sterling reputation. No one would dare bother them," Barriss says from somewhere over Riyo's head.

"Yes. Checkpoints do tend to expedite priests and priestesses with minimal fuss."

The speeder slows and stops, cutting the conversation short. The three of them strain to listen to the muffled voices coming from outside the speeder, and after bit of protesting and terse answers, the trunk pops open to reveal several bounty hunters and Kupun. One of the bounty hunters has his blaster trained on Kupun to keep her from moving.

Beyond them are other speeders and pickups queued up to go through the checkpoint. A man and a woman in the pickup behind them stick their heads out of the windows to get a better look at Riyo and the Jedi huddled in the trunk.

CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. The bounty hunters pull out their blasters and arm them as Riyo and the Jedi are revealed. To let her eyes adjust, Riyo raises her hand to block out the copious amount of sunlight that now pours into the trunk. In response to the blasters, the couple in the pickup hurriedly roll up their windows and make a three-point turn to get away. The speeder behind them does the same.

"You have to be joking," Riyo mutters.

Kupun wrings her hands nervously. "Sorry, my friend. I don't know how they knew."

"Find My Data Pad," one of the bounty hunters says. His voice is muffled by his helmet.

"Pardon?" Barriss asks weakly.

"You took one of our associate's data pads, and we used the 'Find My Data Pad' function to track you." The bounty hunter says. Ahsoka and Barriss look at Riyo, who drags her hands down her face.

No.

She had a plan! It was a good plan! How? How could she not account for something like Find My Data Pad? The hell kind of bounty hunter uses Find My Data Pad on their burner anyway? Burners aren't supposed to have that function activated! Gods damn it! Gods damn it all, and damn that stupid, sloppy, third-rate, sorry excuse for a bounty hunter!

A long stream of Pantoran swears falls unbidden from Riyo's mouth. Barriss stares, absolutely scandalized, and Ahsoka's eyebrow markings go up, but Riyo doesn't stop. The nearest bounty hunter simply tilts his head as he listens to her tirade, and the bounty hunter guarding Kupun lowers his blaster and doubles over laughing.

Riyo sighs as she winds down. Ah, that's better.

"Are you done with your tantrum, Senator?" The bounty hunter asks.

"Yes," Riyo says.

The trunk lid slams shut, casting them in darkness once again. Riyo and Barriss gasp, but Ahsoka says nothing. She must have closed it with the Force, and keeps it closed now by sheer physical strength, even though the bounty hunters are shouting at each other and furiously trying to pry it open. If Riyo wasn't so terrified, she'd think it was a shame they couldn't see Ahsoka flex.

"Yeah, here's the plan," Ahsoka says, sounding as if they're simply going on a grocery run instead of fighting their way out of mortal peril.

"You have a plan for this scenario? That's incredibly thorough," Barriss says.

"Not prepared; I made it up just now. I'm going to bust out of here and give them a fight. While I'm doing that, you guys get into the cabin of the speeder and drive off. Wait, can either of you drive?"

"Yes," Barriss and Riyo say at the same time.

"Although I don't know my way around Defiance," Barriss says.

"I do. I can drive us right to Sprekker's house, then we can deliver the evidence against the Patron, and he can help us make the arrest," Riyo says.

"Cool. One, two, three, go!" Ahsoka rips the trunk lid from the rest of the speeder with a mighty wrench and _shoves_ it away, sending it and all the bounty hunters flying through the air and sprawling several feet out. Kupun, who stands off to the side, watches the display with a slack jaw.

"Go? What do you mean 'go?' Was that was your entire plan?" Barriss shouts, even as Ahsoka unfolds her legs, grabs the edge of the trunk, and launches herself out towards the bounty hunters.

SHVOOM.

Ahsoka's lightsabers ignite with a deadly hum, cutting one of them down immediately. The other bounty hunters scramble away from her. Kupun squeaks and flees into the brush off the side of the road. The queue of speeders quickly disperses in a roar of engines.

"All right, I suppose we are doing this now." Barriss grimaces as she extracts herself from the trunk and tugs on Riyo's hands to pull her up. "Priestess Kupun, I'm afraid we'll be commandeering your speeder!"

Kupun waves it away from her place behind the brush. "Yes, by all means, go! I'll be fine."

Riyo slides into the driver's seat and slams the door closed. She turns the engine on and shifts it into gear.

VROOM. Riyo floors the gas pedal and turns the wheel, making the speeder spin out in a donut. In the passenger seat, Barriss screams and braces herself against the door. Ahsoka jumps and does a somersault to avoid the end of the speeder, and most of the remaining bounty hunters are able to dodge out of the way, but one of them gets rammed and is thrown several feet. He lands with a crunch and doesn't get up.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Barriss asks. She grips the overhead handle and stares at Riyo in awe.

"One of my uncles is a getaway driver and he taught me a few tricks," Riyo says. She leans out of the window and yells. "Ahsoka! Get in!"

Ahsoka grins and slides into the back seat. Barriss fastens her seatbelt with shaky hands.

Riyo shifts gear again and peals through the checkpoint, crashing through the flimsy gate and roaring into Defiance at several times the speed limit.

Defiance is one of the largest cities on Pantora, boasting a population of about eight million. Skyscrapers tower around them, and weaving around the buildings are streams of airspeeders. Riyo bulls her way through the traffic covering the ground of the city, driving through gaps in the lines of land speeders and even onto sections of sidewalk. Pedestrians curse and dive out of the way.

"Is it necessary to go this fast?" Barriss yells over the screams and the blaring horn honks. Now and then, the sides of the speeder scrape against the duracrete buildings. Riyo understands why Barriss might be so concerned, but really, she knows what she's doing.

"We should be going faster," Ahsoka says. She watches through the rear window. A few of the bounty hunters ride hover bikes through the chaos they've left behind and the passengers level their blasters at them.

PEW PEW.

The three of them duck as the rear window shatters. Ahsoka swears and uses her armored arm to clear the window of the remaining glass. The sleeve of her parka rips a little, but Ahsoka doesn't notice. Riyo spins the wheel, making a hard turn down an alleyway.

Out of sky, one of the airspeeders descends from the traffic above to hover before them. It's full of more bounty hunters, and a couple of the passengers lean out of the windows with their blasters.

PEW PEW PEW.

"Eish!" Riyo shouts as a few bolts burn holes in the hood of the speeder. "Ahsoka, they're trying to shoot out the engine!"

"Kinda busy over here!" Ahsoka wriggles through the rear window of the speeder with her lightsaber in hand and climbs into the empty trunk, deflecting blaster bolts the entire time.

Riyo spares a glance at Barriss as they merge back onto a major street. They cut in front of a speeder bus and get a deafening long honk in return. "You'll have to do it."

"I was afraid you'd say that." Barriss reluctantly unclips her seatbelt and rolls down the window, muttering, "I am one with the Force, the Force is with me," over and over again. She climbs halfway out the window and sits on the door, then takes out her lightsaber.

PSSHEW.

Barriss begins blocking blaster bolts in earnest, but now, Riyo's vision is filled with a whirling blue light. She slouches down in her seat in order to better see, and keeps driving down one of the broad avenues of the city.

Despite Riyo's efforts, the hover bikes catch up to the speeder. Using the Force, Ahsoka throws her shoto blade first into the engine of the nearest hover bike and summons it back.

BOOM. The hover bike explodes, sending the two riders, and a ball of fire and smoke, up into the air. Ahsoka catches her shoto and turns, but the other bike has already swerved away.

THUMP. THWOCK.

Two durasteel grappling hooks burst through the roof of the speeder. They're attached to heavy chains leading to the airspeeder above them. The airspeeder's exhausts open up and blaze brighter as it tries to fly up and take them off the ground.

Riyo tries to turn, but finds the handling already somewhat compromised. "We're no better than a fish on a line!"

Barriss chops at the chains, sending hot sparks everywhere, but the chains remain undamaged. She and Ahsoka share a panicked look over the roof of the speeder.

"Eish! I've lost control," Riyo shouts. "We're lifted too far from the ground for the anti-grav to catch."

The land speeder lifts seven feet off the ground and lists as it's dragged through the air. Barriss digs her fingers into a ripple in the roof in order to keep from falling out, and Ahsoka reaches through the rear window and grabs one of the seatbelts.

"We should bail. We'll sneak to Sprekker instead," Ahsoka says, and she slides back into the speeder.

"We're going too fast for that!" Barriss follows her back into the speeder and finds Ahsoka strapping herself into a seat.

"What are you doing?"

"When I say 'go,' we're going to cut the roof clean off. You should buckle up."

"Of all the foolhardy things…." Barriss mutters as he fastens her seatbelt again. Riyo also buckles in.

"Ready?"

"Ready," Barriss and Riyo say.

"Go."

SCHVOOM. All three of their lightsabers whirl through the cabin, cutting through the pillars of the cabin ceiling and the windows. Riyo winces as Barriss' heated blade passes over the top of her head. The speeder begins to fall, and the cabin opens up, letting in the cool wind. They bounce on a parked speeder, breaking the remains of the windows, before landing on the ground again, and skid to a complete stop in the middle of the intersection.

"Riyo?" Ahsoka nervously asks as the airspeeder stops down the street and spins around. The dangling chains, still clamped to the discarded speeder roof, swing out as the airspeed turns.

"The engine stalled!" Riyo furiously pushes the start button again and again, but the engine won't turn. The traffic around them clears out, with some of the other drivers taking turns to avoid the intersection.

"We should run," Barriss says.

"We won't get far," Ahsoka says.

"Please, please, please. Please work." Riyo presses the button again and holds it down. She doesn't know who exactly she's praying to, but she's praying all the same.

CHK-CHK-CHK-CHK-VROOM. The engine roars to life and Riyo shouts.

"Yes! There you are!"

Riyo shifts gears, braces herself against the passenger seat and looks over her shoulder. She floors the pedal and the speeder lurches backwards down a side street. Barriss clenches on the armrests so hard she leaves fingernail indents, but Ahsoka whoops. Other speeders swerve out of the way and honk, but Riyo keeps going until she makes a turn into a parking garage.

Riyo pulls on the brake and the car spins around until she shifts gears again and zooms forward into the parking garage. Thankfully, the garage is blissfully empty of people, and Riyo eases the speeder into a parking spot and cuts the engine.

BOOM. The speeder falls gracelessly to the ground, never to hover again.

"Can I just…thanks." Ahsoka unfastens her seatbelt, reaches over and delves into the front of Riyo's coat. Riyo is frozen in her seat from shock.

"I'm very flattered, Ahsoka, but can you buy me dinner first?" Riyo manages to ask.

"Ha ha." Ahsoka's lekku stripes turn dark, dark blue, but she keeps patting Riyo down. She pulls out the Leopard's data pad and throws it onto the duracrete floor, where the screen shatters, then she hops out and smashes the data pad under her boot heel.

CRUNCH. The screen of the data pad flickers and goes out.

"What are you doing? That was our only evidence!" Riyo shouts.

Ahsoka squats down next to the remains of the data pad and picks through it for the memory card. When she finds it, she holds it up triumphantly between her thumb and forefinger and goes to place it into Riyo's hand.

"There you go. All the evidence without the tracking."

"Oh. Thank you." Riyo's ears burn, and Ahsoka smirks.

"I'm going to slice us a replacement speeder," Ahsoka says.

"I was hoping you would say that. Barriss, are you all right?" Riyo turns to her pale and shaking friend sitting in the passenger seat.

"Fine," Barriss weakly says. "You're a better driver than I thought, Riyo."

"Thank you! But I'm not nearly as good as my uncle's associates. _They_ can drive."

"I suppose they would have to, in order to escape law enforcement," Barriss mutters.

"Ooh, look at this flitter!" Ahsoka races over to a shiny luxury speeder that's parked across four spaces.

Riyo drops the memory card into her pocket and opens the door to leave the broken speeder. "We can't all fit in there."

"Then we could use that Elektra over there." Ahsoka points out a blue and red speeder further down the aisle.

Barriss groans as she eases herself out of the speeder too. "Those are notoriously unsafe. What about a Corellian? Corellian speeders are reliable."

Ahsoka sighs and reluctantly gestures to a dented, scratched, and bulky air speeder. "I'm sure all those extra seats will come in handy when we pick up our younglings from their grav-ball practice," she says in monotone.

Riyo laughs. "I'd prefer not to steal the speeder that obviously belongs to a family."

"Then I'll steal a kriffin' douche's speeder. The flitter it is!" Ahsoka hops into the driver's seat of the double-parked speeder and pries one of the dashboard panels open with the Force.

"That'll get us noticed for sure," Riyo says, but Ahsoka is already pressing the panel back in place and pressing the start button. The engine roars to life, the sound filling up the duracrete parking structure. Ahsoka's eyes light up and she shoots them a toothy grin from behind the steering wheel. She's practically bouncing in her seat.

Barriss covers her mouth to hide a giggle.

"How can anyone say 'no' to that face?" Riyo mutters.

"Well, the both of us are small enough; we could share the other seat," Barriss says.

* * *

In order for all of them to fit in the airspeeder, Riyo must sit in Barriss' lap, with her arm around her neck. Ahsoka drives up to the roof of the parking structure and takes off, joining the other airspeeders as they zoom around the city. The wind whips into their faces, making their lined hoods bellow behind them. Barriss is strangely quiet, and Riyo hopes that it isn't because she's too heavy.

They ease into a stop at a red light, and as they hover, other speeders pull up alongside them. The rumble of their engines fill their ears. Barriss pulls the hem of her cloak over her mouth and nose in an attempt to block out the stench of fuel and smoke. Another driver gives Ahsoka a thumbs up to congratulate her on the speeder, and Ahsoka grins back.

"Where are we going?" She asks.

Riyo gives her directions using landmarks, not street names, because Ahsoka can't read the signs. Ahsoka nods and when the light turns green, she flies the airspeeder accordingly. Without the threat of the bounty hunters, Defiance fully opens up to them. There are stores and restaurants and food stands. There are temples scattered throughout the city, each one identifiable to a particular god by their design. Pantorans speak in their dialects all around them, and they fly by billboards and ads unique only to Pantora. Riyo translates what she can.

"It's way different during the day," Ahsoka softly says. "Your university is in this city, right?"

"Yes, that's correct. The University of Defiance, Ikiak School of Law. We can visit it later, if you want," Riyo says.

Ahsoka gives a lopsided smile as she flies the speeder out of the downtown area and towards the other end of the city, where the buildings are much shorter and less cramped together. Out near the other edge of Defiance are tall hills, and built on those hills are the houses and complexes owned and rented by Pantora's affluent citizens.

The neighborhood is entirely made up of large, extravagant houses, which are mostly hidden behind tall fences, trees, and hedges. Snow blankets the roofs and the lawns. Ice frosts the windows, obscuring the rooms within, and it colors the duracrete dark with dangerous patches. Here, the streets are wide, already plowed free of snow, and empty of people save for the brave dogwalkers.

Ahsoka parks their stolen speeder along the curb. They get out and follow Riyo down the street and past the wrought iron gate of one of the houses.

"I've never been to Sprekker's house, but I know his address," Riyo whispers.

While the neighborhood was already quiet, all sounds seem more muffled as soon as they step past the gate. The air within the property is still, as if waiting. The three of them walk up the long driveway to the front door. Parked outside is a dark speeder, and Ahsoka puts her hand on the hood.

"It's still warm. He must have just gotten back from the Summit," Ahsoka says.

"He's home!" Riyo smiles at them and rings the doorbell.

After a few seconds, there's the scrape of the lock and the doors open to reveal a serious man with light blue hair and a short beard. Gold streaks radiate across his forehead from between his eyebrows. His suit jacket is missing and the top two buttons of his shirt collar are undone.

"Riyo? Is that really you?" the man asks in a low voice.

"Yes, Sprekker, it is. May we come in? There are bounty hunters after us," Riyo says.

Sprekker steps to the side and invites them in with a sweep of his arm. "I can't believe it! You say bounty hunters are behind your disappearance? They didn't follow you here, did they?"

"No, we got rid of them. My friends made sure of that," Riyo says. She looks around the vast foyer and sees a familiar sigil painting done in blood, only this one must be about six meters tall.

"Master Jedi. Thank you for protecting Riyo. She's nigh indispensable in these trying times. Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Sprekker asks Ahsoka and Barriss before shutting the door behind them.

"Would you happen to know who is heading the investigation into Riyo's disappearance? We may have key evidence that could lead straight to whoever is responsible," Barriss says.

"Eish! Yes, I do. Something like that, it would change everything," Sprekker says. He holds out his hand. "I profess I am curious. May I see this evidence?"

But instead of offering the memory card, Riyo stares entranced at the sigil painting.

"What is it?" Ahsoka asks. She and Barriss go to Riyo's side and stare at the painting too.

"I don't understand. This painting belonged to Chairman Cho. He willed it to his son. Sprekker, why is it here, and not with Rommeruk?"

PEW.

Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo are enveloped in blue light. They fall to the floor, unconscious. Behind them, still standing at the door, Sprekker lowers a derringer blaster and casually takes a crystal whiskey glass from a nearby table. He swirls the amber contents around and tips it back into his mouth.

* * *

Note Bene: It's a shorter chapter this week, hope that's okay after last week's monster. Sometimes that's just how it is.

When I first wrote this chapter, I didn't expect them to go speeder shopping. It was very domestic of them to do and it was kinda nice.

You guys having a good time? (I ask this as if I didn't just leave you all on the first true cliff-hanger of the story.) I gotta admit; I'm having a lot of fun and I'm just so excited for you guys to read the rest of this story. it's ready and waiting, but posting one chapter per week gives me more time to polish it up. The extra drafts really do make a difference.

Take care, okay? I'll see you next chapter. Until then, you can check out my Tumblr, Artyblogs. Ask some questions and get some answers.

And hey. Thanks.


	9. Into the Taiga

Dark liquid seeps through Barriss' sleeves, staining them. In the low light, it almost looks like blood. Is she bleeding? Barriss unbuttons the cuffs of her sleeves and rolls them up, looking for any sign of injury, but what meets her eye instead are smears of ink, running like mascara in the rain. One swipe of her fingertips paints them black, and leaves her forearms an unblemished green.

Panic shoots through every bone in Barriss' body, and she rolls her sleeves up higher.

PLIP.

A drop falls from Barriss's chin and onto her lap, and she wipes her face in horror. She stares down at her blackened, trembling hands. Her lumen. What is happening to her lumen?

Barriss goes to the refresher and locks the door behind her, then reaches up and undoes the buttons at the collar of her dress. She rucks down one of the shoulders and looks at her back in the mirror.

She spent the last several days on an ink shaman's table getting these particular tattoos: a thick line of interlocked diamonds running down her spine, overlapping other larger diamonds that cover her back and slightly wrap around the outsides of her shoulders like armor.

That's what it should be. But that's not what she sees.

Blank.

Barriss wakes up with a shout. She's in bed, in her room in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The morning is silent and still save for a few chirping birds outside her window. Sunlight filters in through the blinds and hits the surface of her desk. Barriss lifts her arms and inspects them. Her forearms and the backs of her hands are covered in an array of diamonds. She skims the pattern with her fingers, and only feels skin. The ink remains intact, as it should be.

She did not paint these lumen on herself like a youngling playing dress up; she earned these. But the ones on her back…the way she feels about them, they might as well be airbrushed on.

Barriss drops her hands onto her chest and sighs.

Later, she meets Master Luminara Unduli in a closed airspeeder, and they zoom across Coruscant. The lights of the city paint streaks across the windows.

"Master?"

"Yes?"

"Did you ever have any doubts as to what the Force might have planned for you? Was there ever a time when you wondered if you were doing the right thing?"

Luminara regards Barriss for a long moment, her blue eyes piercing, and Barriss tries her best not to squirm. The humming of the airspeeder fills the tiny cabin.

"Yes, there were many times. But then I realized that the root of these feelings stemmed from a wish to control my surroundings. It took many hours of meditation, but once I let go of these desires for control, I was able to find peace. The Force will provide any answers you may seek through meditation."

"I see," Barriss says. But what if meditation provided answers that were so far from expected that it was frightening? Of course, the answers that Luminara might provide might be better if Barriss told her what was truly bothering her, but then…that would require Barriss to tell Luminara what was truly bothering her.

"There is no need to be nervous, Barriss. It is only a simple escort mission. The Council had hoped to send you to Drongar with the other researchers, but Senator Chuchi was adamant on your attendance, so they relented. Nevertheless, an escort mission is a fine first mission for a knight," Luminara says.

"I will not fail, Master Unduli," Barriss says despite the churning of her gut.

"I know."

The speeder parks on one of many launch pads. This network is a private terminal used by politicians, celebrities, and other important people. It's already busy with droids, baggage carts, and other personnel, all scurrying to and fro in order to service the ships. Barriss and Luminara make their way through the chaos to a sleek senate ship of silver and black. Anakin and Ahsoka are already there, and although they aren't close enough to hear them, Barriss can already feel Ahsoka's frustration roiling through the Force. Anakin gesticulates wildly and Ahsoka has her arms crossed defiantly over her chest.

Luminara sighs. "What a familiar sight. It is unfortunate that Ahsoka has gotten so erratic. She was such a reliable padawan."

"If she was reliable before, she can be again. Perhaps I can help her," Barriss says.

"Those who lift others to the light, sometimes cast themselves in shadow. Beware your heart, Barriss. Ahsoka may be your friend, but you must not let yourself be led astray. Not even by her."

At the sight of them, Anakin reigns in his arms and hides his hands in the sleeves of his Jedi robe. He scowls at Ahsoka. Barriss and Luminara come close enough to hear the end of his lecture.

"You will go on this mission, and when you come back, it will be behind you. All of this needs to be _done_, Ahsoka. There's too much at stake and we need you to focus, not asking the Council to approve some foolhardy mission."

Ahsoka sullenly looks away and says nothing.

"Hello, Anakin," Luminara says.

"Hi, Luminara. Barriss."

A tense awkward silence falls over the four of them, and all the while, the frustration and pain in the Force grates against Barriss.

She wants Ahsoka to talk to her. Ahsoka used to tell her everything, even when Barriss didn't want to hear it. She'd tell Barriss what she did today, or about a neat thing she learned during one of her lessons, or whatever she was thinking.

Barriss didn't realize how much she'd miss Ahsoka until Ahsoka came back as an impenetrable wall. She didn't realize how _concerned_ she would be.

"Good morning, Master Jedi."

Everyone turns to see Riyo, who effortlessly strolls up to them and takes off her glareshades to regard them all.

"You must be Master Unduli. Hello. I'm Senator Riyo Chuchi." Riyo slides her glareshades into the breast pocket of her coat and gives Luminara a polite nod.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Senator," Luminara says.

"Hey Riyo. What's up?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo turns to her with a grin. "How are you, you overgrown tooka?"

A fragile smile spreads over Ahsoka's face, somehow more precious and dazzling than all of her previous smiles. "Good." And in that moment, she might even mean it.

"I hope you're bringing that parka I gave you."

Ahsoka jerks a thumb at the pack on her back. "Got it."

Riyo takes a large parcel from beneath her arm and hands it too Barriss. "Can't have you freezing on us either, Master Jedi. Here."

Barriss undoes the thick flimsi wrapping to reveal a winter cloak. The outer shell is a cool, gray and black patten, with a roomy hood and a couple clasps inside and across the front to keep it in place around the wearer's body. Barriss delves a hand into the soft, fur lining and quietly marvels.

"Thank you, Riyo."

"You're welcome, Barriss." Riyo claps her hands together. "Shall we?"

* * *

Beyond the windshield of the ship is hyperspace, alit and beautiful. Ahsoka sits in the pilot seat, but now that the ship is on autopilot, there's nothing much for her to do but babysit the dash for an error message. She has been sitting there, motionless, for an hour now.

Riyo gingerly makes her way to the co-pilot's seat and sits down. Together, they stare out at the oncoming streaks of stars. Eventually, Ahsoka's head tilts towards her, as if just noticing her.

"You were right," Ahsoka whispers. She turns to Riyo with a haunted face, red eyes, and slumped shoulders. Nothing like how she was on the launch pad. Riyo's heart tears at the sight. She had hoped that it would be one of those rare times in which she would be wrong, and she would have been so relieved, but of course she would be right about this.

"They shouldn't have sent me. I…wasn't prepared."

"I'm so sorry, Ahsoka." Riyo tries her best to keep a rising tide of hot rage out of her voice. Ahsoka is only seventeen! Seventeen! The Jedi could have sent someone else—they _should_ have sent someone else to Zygerria, but they didn't, and now….

But that's why Riyo requested this escort with the Jedi for right after Ahsoka was scheduled to return, and why she demanded no one else but Ahsoka and Barriss. She probably ruined her reputation with many Jedi Council members with how unyielding she was about it, but she'd gladly shoulder that ire if it meant that Ahsoka would have the time and space she needed to recover from her ordeal and that she was with people who cared for her while she did it. If Master Skywalker and Master Kenobi wished to be a part of Ahsoka's convalescence, then they would have made their own arrangements, but judging by the tense atmosphere that greeted her on the launch pad earlier, they would rather hide the entire mess, like a fresh coat of concealer over an ugly bruise.

Riyo may have requested this escort mission, but she's not the client at all.

"I won't demand you tell me what happened; you can do that in your own time, if you ever want to at all," Riyo says. She reaches out between their two chairs.

Ahsoka takes her hand in a tight grip, her jaw visibly clenched. She nods.

* * *

The loading ramp of the ship lowers to let in a blistering cold draft. Barriss pulls her cloak tighter around herself to keep out the chill, but Riyo doesn't even flinch. Waiting on the launch pad, wearing a heavy coat and a domino mask pushed up to his forehead, is Sprekker Jok. He gives a brilliant smile as he meets Riyo half-way up the ramp and shakes her hand.

"It's good to see you, Riyo."

"Hello, Sprekker. Were you waiting long?" Riyo asks. She, the Jedi, and Sprekker walk back to his guards and down the long ramp that connects the launch pad to the main building of the Civic Center.

"Not at all! Here, here." Sprekker gives them all domino masks. "It's the last day of the Trickster Goddex's festival. Might as well partake in the festivities while you're here."

Ahsoka pulls the mask over her montrals and ties the ribbons behind her head, but Barriss lets her mask hang from her own neck like how Sprekker's two guards wear them.

"You're just in time. The press conference is still ongoing and they're asking for our statements."

"Pantoran, neh?" Riyo turns to Barriss and Ahsoka with a rueful look. "Time to work, I'm afraid. You'll have to do your part too."

"Oh?" Ahsoka asks.

"If there's one thing that both Pantorans and the Talz value, it is toughness. Our warrior cultures might be the only things our peoples have in common, so it's important to project that impression during the Summit. Otherwise, the Talz may not take us seriously," Riyo says.

"Very true," Sprekker says.

"Chin up, shoulders back. Think murder. If you can do that, then we'll get through the next few days without a hitch. It's not a bad gig," Riyo says. Before them, Sprekker's guards stand on either side of the double doors, and Sprekker himself adjusts his collar and cuffs.

"May I?" Riyo asks. Ahsoka hesitates, then leans down.

"Yeah sure."

Riyo reaches up and gently pulls up Ahsoka's mask so that it perches on her forehead at a jaunty angle.

"Do not talk to the press. If you are approached, tell them to talk to me directly."

"What?" Ahsoka asks, her eyes wide.

"That said, I don't think anyone will be paying that much attention to you. Take your cues from Sprekker's guards, they'll know what to do and where to stand." Riyo sizes them up one last time and nods in approval. She turns around and nods to Sprekker's guards.

"Let's go."

The doors slide open to reveal a series of holocam flashes and a crowd of people, all shouting in different languages. Besides Pantoran people, there are also a few humans from the Core, and other species from neighboring systems. Those with the holocams take up the space behind the rows of chairs.

Riyo and Sprekker smile and wave at them as they cross the room to the dais and the podium set up in the front. Sprekker goes up to the podium first and begins speaking in Pantoran. His guards take up a post at the front of the dais. Near the back of the room are several protocol droids with antennae slapped onto their heads. Despite the flashing of their vocoder units, none of them emit any sound.

Barriss and Ahsoka remain with Riyo on the side, and as they watch, a black-clad technical crew member comes from behind the group of protocol droids towards them. He passes to them three patches that are paired with little, rectangular packs. Comlinks of some kind. Riyo sticks one patch over the skin right before her ear, where her jaw hinges to her skull, and tucks the box into her clothes. Barriss follows her example and adjusts her hood to cover the piece, but Ahsoka sticks hers directly to one of her montrals.

_"Bring a deeper connection between our peoples made of mutual empathy and respect,"_ a protocol droid's vocoder voice comes through the comlinks. So, the silent protocol droids are translating after all.

Ahsoka also stares at the crowd of droids, but in confusion.

"What is it? Is it not working?" Riyo asks.

"I didn't know protocol droids could be so professional," Ahsoka says. "Anakin usually brings one, See-Threepio, and he's…he's a bundle of nerves."

Riyo nods sagely. "Yes, I remember him."

_"But I think that is a question better asked to Senator Chuchi. Senator?"_ Sprekker moves away from the podium and invites Riyo onto the dais. His guards follow him to the far side of the room, and Barriss and Ahsoka move to take their places between Riyo and the press amid a furious storm of holocam flashes.

Ahsoka closes her eyes against the onslaught, but stands her ground. Some of the press whisper into their personal recording devices and scribble notes onto flimsi pads with stubby styluses as they watch Barriss and Ahsoka, but others ignore them and raise their hands.

_"Senator! Senator Chuchi!" _

_"Over here, Senator!" _

_"One question, Senator Chuchi!" _

_"Yes. You in the blue."_ From behind them, Riyo says this in Pantoran, but the Basic translation comes through their comlinks.

_"The Pantoran delegation has representatives from the entire political spectrum. Won't this be a hindrance to today's talks?"_

_"All members of the Pantoran delegation are very much aware of the enormous opportunity that this Summit represents. Intersystem cooperation is vital to the well-being of both of our peoples, regardless of political leanings,"_ Riyo says.

More whispers into recording devices. More notes on their flimsies. The shouting begins once more.

_"Is the Jedi presence an endorsement of the Pantoran Panel?" _

_"The Jedi are here to remind everyone, including myself, that my role in these talks is to be a peacekeeper and a peacekeeper only, as befits the role that the Jedi Order has traditionally kept in Intergalactic affairs." _

Barriss' spine snaps straight at that. Out of the corner of her eye, Ahsoka goes still. While technically correct, that kind of answer is…controversial. A few more hands go up at that, and the shouting rises in volume.

_"Will the Jedi issue a statement?" _

_"Do the Jedi have a stake in the outcome of this Summit?"_

_"Are the Jedi influencing you in any way, Senator?"_

There's a spike of annoyance in the Force from Ahsoka at that last question, and Barriss hopes that she keeps quiet. It's one thing to hear in the holonet news that the Jedi Order's popularity has plummeted, but it's totally different to hear these accusations. Does the galaxy at large really believe that the Order would orchestrate political affairs that much? That they would cruelly manipulate people like that?

But Riyo doesn't skip a beat. _"That was an incredibly rude question, sir. Without the Jedi, the Talz and the Pantorans would still be unknown to each other. I personally would not be alive and standing here before you today if it were not for the protection of a Jedi. And as we might all know, it was with the help of a Jedi that Che Amanwe Papanoida was rescued from the Trade Federation._

_"Thank you for your time!"_ Riyo finishes with a wave and steps away from the podium and heads towards the other side of the room, where Sprekker waits. Barriss and Ahsoka follow her at a pace behind.

"Did she practice for this? I thought all she did was watch the holonet news and read," Barriss whispers to Ahsoka.

"You mean on the way over here? I don't think so," Ahsoka whispers back.

They go through the next set of double doors and into a wide hall. Long tables are set up in a large square in the middle of the hall and around this square are chairs. A low dais surrounds this square and more tables are set up on the dais so that everyone can see.

There are people and other creatures already in this room, including several huge, wooly creatures, the Talz. Draped around their necks are strings of polished teeth and strapped around their torsos are leather armors and brightly dyed sashes. They all wear comlink translators too, only while the power packs are clipped to their leathers, the actual comlink is hidden under their fur. Their leader, Chief Thi-Sen, is the biggest and shaggiest of the lot, and he presides from the middle of the Talz panel that takes up one side of the room.

The Pantoran delegation is also already there, taking up the table opposite the Talz.

The tech crew ushers the protocol droids into a box off to the side, where they continue to translate.

Riyo goes to the smallest table set up opposite of the main gallery and gestures for Ahsoka and Barriss to join her. There are comfortable chairs on either side of Riyo, and as they sit, Riyo whispers a quick rundown of who is who on either side of the panel.

"Will you be all right? Feel free to go to the 'fresher at any time if you need to. There's a table with snacks and water near the doors," Riyo finally says.

"Thank you, Riyo. I believe we'll be fine," Barriss says. Ahsoka smiles and nods. Riyo smiles back at the both of them and squeezes their hands; the most she'll be able to do while appearing before the public in a professional setting.

"Nervous, Senator?" Sprekker asks. He's stopped by the table with a hand over his comlink mic and he leans down to whisper to them.

Riyo turns around to face him.

"You should be on the panel, Sprekker," Riyo says.

Sprekker shakes his head 'no.' "I'm not a member of the delegation, nor am I an arbiter."

"And yet you think yourself important enough to attend these proceedings. What good are you?" Someone else says.

They all turn to see a Pantoran man. He's wearing the dress uniform of the Pantoran military, similar in design to the guards around them, only he must be higher in rank judging from the aglets draped across his chest. His hair is black and his facial tattoos streak down over his forehead to the middle of his eyebrows, and then from the bottom of his eyes over his cheekbones to his ears.

If Sprekker is hurt by the insult, he hides it masterfully. "Master Jedi, meet Duke Rommeruk Cho. Your Grace, this is Jedi Knight Barriss Offee and Jedi Padawan Learner Ahsoka Tano. They are the Senator's retinue."

Rommeruk looks the both of them up and down, his lip curling in disgust. "I see. I thought Jedi would be more…impressive."

Barriss pauses mid-curtsey, but Ahsoka says something first.

"What?"

"Rommeruk," Riyo warns.

"If all Jedi are so deficient then it is no wonder my father died while under their protection." Rommeruk waves it away. "I've wanted answers from the Jedi for a long time, but now I see that it isn't necessary."

"Is this what awaits us in the Summit? You'll have us at each other's throats before you can say 'knife.'" Riyo takes Rommeruck by the elbow and drags him away so that they can talk in private.

Barriss straightens up, but says nothing.

"What was that? What the hell did we do to him?" Ahsoka growls out.

Sprekker cringes. "Rommeruk's father was Chairman Cho."

"Chairman Cho was his father?" Barriss repeats. She did a little research on the recent history of Pantora and the Talz before this trip and while it doesn't excuse what might be the height example of disrespect on Rommeruk's part, it might be an explanation.

"He's not so bad once you get to know him," Sprekker says.

"He insulted you in public," Ahsoka says, but Sprekker shakes his head.

"It's how things are between us. You know, once upon a time, there was speculation that Rommeruk would propose to Riyo."

Silence, then, "Like business, or what?" Ahsoka asks.

Sprekker chuckles. "Pantora wasn't fond of the Cho family back then. Still isn't. But when Riyo came back from Orto Plutonia without the Chairman, and the people threatened to finally revolt, she persuaded them to not march on the palace and slaughter the Cho family in their beds. Instead of begrudging her for it, Rommeruk has been demonstrably grateful, which is why he agreed to be one of the delegates on the Pantoran panel for this summit. With him, the panel includes the conservative faction of the Assembly."

"Okay, but that doesn't answer my question," Ahsoka says.

"In order to solidify their shaky political base, Cho's widow allegedly tried to set up a match between Rommeruk and Riyo. Don't ask me how it would help; I'm not one of the few people who understands what goes on in that woman's mind," Sprekker says.

Barriss saw the speculation in the Pantoran gossip flimsies during her research, but she didn't give the absurd stories much thought or weight. But seeing it playing out before her now, she can see where the reporters might have been coming from. Rommeruk is handsome, if also brooding, and Riyo has always been so lovely. He and Riyo are also within a reasonable age bracket to be matched. She watches now as to how careful he is to temper his behavior and expression when around Riyo, or when he's talking to her, but not towards anyone else. Even in the Force, his frustration is tightly controlled despite the choice words that Riyo gives him.

Why is it so repugnant?

Ahsoka likewise shudders. "I don't like that."

Riyo strides back to them, her chin held high and her eyes still flashing, and Rommeruk follows her back at a more sedate pace. "My sincere apologies, Master Jedi. It was not my place to criticize." Rommeruk pulls Riyo's chair out for her and leaves for his own place on the Pantoran side of the hall.

_"Please take your seats, the Opening Statements are about to begin,"_ the protocol droid says through the comlinks.

"Hmph." Riyo opens the black folder on the table before her, revealing an itinerary, a flimsi notepad, a stylus, and other things. She turns to Ahsoka and Barriss again and says in a low voice, "And now I play ambassador, and will need to mediate for the next few hours. There won't be any time for us to talk, but at least you will be able to understand."

And with that, Barriss and Ahsoka take their seats at Riyo's side. Riyo picks up a gavel and bangs it against the table. _"I call these talks open. Let us begin."_

* * *

Together, the delegates discuss trade, space borders, treaties, Pantoran migration, and other issues. It's a delicate balance between facilitating Talz independence and Pantoran control of the system, and Riyo is in the middle of it all, subtly directing the conversation.

The Jedi are peacekeepers, but Barriss doubts that any Jedi has done anything on this level in years. There is no doubt at all that despite the serene facade, these talks are extremely volatile, and could erupt in into blaster fire and more war with one loaded word. The Talz and Pantoran guards—and even the presence of Barriss and Ahsoka—aren't here just for decoration. But by just looking at Riyo, one would be hard pressed to figure out if she feels any pressure at all.

There is no fidgeting on Riyo's part, nor are there any errant tugs at her suit collar. She isn't even sweating. Riyo is the very image of calm, every movement and statement deliberate and confident. Even if the Force around her is tinged with nerves, it never solidifies or grows into anything truly overwhelming.

Barriss and Ahsoka take turns with their breaks, so that at least one of them is in the room with Riyo, and even when they're outside of the main meeting hall, their comlinks still receive a feed of what is going on.

During official breaks, Riyo remains with the other delegates. It's only at lunch, when the Summit is declared over for the day, that Riyo is left alone with Barriss and Ahsoka. Ahsoka stands up and stretches, her spine lining up with audible pops. Chairman Papanoida, looking very tired indeed, crosses the hall to them.

Riyo closes her folder and looks up at him. "Chairman, this is Jedi Knight Barriss Offee, and you remember Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano. Master Jedi, meet Chairman Papanoida."

"Is that really you, Master Jedi?" Papanoida's mouth hangs open as he looks up at Ahsoka. "Eish! What are the Jedi feeding you?"

"I'm actually short for my species, Chairman," Ahsoka says with a smirk, but she shakes his hand all the same.

Papanoida swears in Pantoran. "I was congratulating the Senator on how well the first day went. This wouldn't have gone so smoothly without her."

"The Pantoran Delegation was unusually civil under your eye, Chairman," Riyo says.

"Thank you, Senator. Tonight is the last night of the Trickster Goddex festival and I and my children are hosting a small event at the Silver Palate. Will you and the Jedi come?"

"Terribly sorry, but our itinerary is full today, Chairman," Riyo says. Technically not a lie, even if their plans for the evening are just Riyo taking them on a tour of Defiance, they'll be busy all the same.

Papanoida's mustache twitches as he smiles. "One day, I will get you to attend one of my events."

Riyo smiles up at him. "Eventually, Chairman."

There's a lull in the conversation as a tech crew member comes by to collect all of the comlink packs.

"If you and your friends wish to avoid the press, then you better take the back way." Papanoida nods towards a nondescript door that Barriss assumed was for maintenance purposes.

"I wasn't aware there was a way to escape. Shouldn't I give a statement?" Riyo asks.

"You are the mediator. Anything you might say might be too biased and would undo our good work. If the press must have their statement, then I will give it," Papanoida says.

"Thank you, Chairman," Riyo says.

"Right, let's go," Barriss says. She, Ahsoka, and Riyo make their way around the edges of the room until they reach the far door, then sneak out. They find themselves in a deserted corridor, but a public-facing one, not one reserved for staff. Far down, at one end of the corridor, is a crowd. There's the mad click and flash of holocams, and a lot of shouting. They're shouting in Pantoran, however, and Barriss doesn't understand. At least the press don't seem to notice them.

"This way," Ahsoka says. She leads them away to the other end of the corridor, which is mercifully empty, and the three of them make their way through the exhibition hall until they burst out into the street. The crisp, Pantoran air fills their lungs and Orto Plutonia hangs low in the sky.

There's a street vendor on the corner, and hanging from the awning of his cart are bundles of dried cuts of fish. Even more bundles are piled high on the counter, so that the vendor can barely see the customer, and they fill up wide baskets that are bolted to the sides of the cart.

The three of them fall into the long line along and wait. Some people are talking on their comlinks, and others tap on their data pads.

Passerby of all species walk by without a second glance at any of them, all of them are bundled in warm clothes. Most wear suits, but a lot of people also wear masks. There are domino masks, like the ones hanging around their necks, and also full animal masks. A man has pushed his bear mask up to his forehead so that he can see the screen of his data pad more clearly.

"What are these for?" Barriss fingers her domino mask.

"It's for the Trickster Goddex festival. It's supposed to be good luck, because then the Trickster supposedly won't prank you too hard if They don't know exactly who you are. Harmless stuff only." Riyo places her own mask on her face and grins.

Two people wearing porg masks ride a hover bike by them, blasting music at full volume. The passenger tosses confetti at everyone on the sidewalk as they zoom past.

Half of the people in line laugh and shake out their clothes and hair, spilling confetti across the sidewalk, but one woman turns and spits some confetti out. Ahsoka picks a few confetti out of Riyo's hair and flicks them away.

There's visible counter space on the cart by the time they get to the front of the line, and behind them, the line has only grown even longer than before as the lunch rush continues. Riyo orders in Pantoran, and the vendor nods and plucks three bundles of dried fish from the awning. He slides them into thin, flimsi bags and hands them to her.

"Enkosi!" Riyo gives him several credits, then holds out the bags to the Jedi. "Here."

Ahsoka eagerly chomps down on a piece of fish almost immediately, but Barriss and Riyo nibble as they walk down the wide avenue. The fish is chewy, and tastes like butter. No fish smell or taste at all. If it weren't for the sign, Barriss would have guessed that she was eating some kind of toughened bread instead.

"Where're we going first?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo clears her mouth before she speaks. "Defiance is the capitol because it's the site of the Great Pact, where all the tribes agreed to stop fighting each other. And then all the chiefs came together to create the first version of the Assembly. There's a walking tour through the city for all of the historical buildings, like chief houses, the meeting hall where the pact was signed, stuff like that. One of the sights is a large pond, and they ice skate out there. We could do that too."

Barriss frowns. "Wait, a pond? Isn't that dangerous? From what I understand, many people drown every year from skating on natural bodies of water."

"There is a technique of what to do if you fall through ice. Papanoida's wife is pushing mandatory lessons in the schools," Riyo says. They turn a corner onto a quieter, emptier street. There are hardly any people about, and the speeders that do come through do so at a slower pace.

"So what do you do if you fall through thin ice?" Ahsoka asks.

"You keep your hands up above your head as you fall, then you hold them out to your sides, so that your torso doesn't sink beneath the ice." Riyo pantomimes as she explains, her bag of fish nearly hitting some passerby in the face. "Then you lean forward until you float on your stomach, and when you float on your stomach, then your upper body will also be lying on the ice. All you have to do after that is crawl out of the hole, and then keep crawling until you get to thicker ice."

Ahsoka's eyebrow marks go up. "That's it? Just belly crawl to safety?"

"It's harder to break through the ice when your body weight is spread out over a larger surface area," Riyo says. Her data pad beeps and she wipes her hands on a handkerchief before she pulls it out of her pocket. She frowns.

"What is it?" Barriss asks.

"Sprekker wants to join us for the tour. I suppose I could just tell him where we're headed, and he can meet us there." Riyo gives her bag of fish to Ahsoka and taps out a message on her pad, then puts it away in her suit jacket. "There. It's not that far away; he could probably get there before we do if he moves fast enough."

The first site of the tour is surrounded by a high wall made of mud, but the low, sweeping roof is still visible over the top. A large, weathered, bronze plaque is stuck to the wall next to the entrance, which has a toll booth and turnstile set in it. Riyo frowns again.

"Is it closed? Why isn't there anyone in line to get in?" She checks her chrono.

An urgent twang sounds through the Force, and Barriss tenses. Ahsoka looks up too, her eyes wide.

"We shouldn't be here," Barriss whispers.

"Where did everyone go?" Ahsoka asks. The three of them find themselves in an empty street. Whatever other passerby that used to be here with them, they've all gone.

"Riyo," Barriss begins, but she doesn't get further than that before they're all enveloped by flashes of blue light. _Stunning blaster bolts_, Barriss groggily thinks even as they all hit the ground. The blue light continues as whoever is shooting at them keeps aiming at Ahsoka's prone form.

Barriss struggles to keep awake, but dimly knows that she only has seconds, and won't even remember the past few minutes when she next wakes up. The last thing she sees is the mask of a snow wolf.

* * *

Note Bene EDIT: I have some time to write out some proper commentary, so let's get to it. I didn't get a chance to show it, which is fine, but I imagine that after our intrepid heroines were stunned, they were cuffed and tied up, thrown into the back of a pickup speeder, covered in a tarp, and were transported out into the Taiga.

Rommeruk…. Ugh, this guy. Out of all the things that have come out of characters' mouths in the story thus far, I think his lines are among the cruelest. Fucking BURN, Jedi. You need some Bacta for that? I actually giggled uncomfortably when I reread that scene, because I couldn't believe I wrote that.

We're almost done, readers! Only one chapter left and this story is complete.

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	10. The Frozen Sea

Barriss feels sick. She's been sick before, but she's never felt an innate sense of empty urgency that she feels now. The feeling in her hands are deadened at the wrists, like she's been sitting on them long enough for all the blood to flow out. Similarly, where her Force Sense would have billowed beyond her body to fill the immediate room and somewhat beyond, it is now contained within herself. There is her skin, and her clothes on her skin, and the cold air and snow on her face and hands, but there is nothing else. Barriss wakes up disoriented for the lack of the Force. It's like losing a limb.

The culprit is the pair of cuffs clasped around her wrists. It would be a familiar sight, only this time, the cuffs have an electrical component. Even though there is no indication of it; no mark or engraving of any kind, Barriss knows that these cuffs are Force inhibitor cuffs.

This time, Barriss lies on a plane of ice that extends out in all directions until the edges are swallowed in the gloom. Snow falls from the cloudy night sky, blanketing everything in a thick layer of frost. Barriss' cloak already has a thin crust of ice on it. Defiance and its piers are a distant landmark in the gaping expanse of the darkness surrounding her.

Ahsoka lies next to her, and Barriss is startled to find her so close. Without the Force, there is no Force Bond, and despite their physical proximity, there might as well be a chasm yawning between them. Ahsoka is also in the same Force inhibitor cuffs, but she's also draped in chains. They wrap around her shoulders, and her chest and wind down her torso until they reach her hands. Heavy padlocks keep them in place.

Before them is Riyo, who sits upright on the ice. She is cuffed and her feet and ankles are chained to a couple duracrete blocks.

Both Riyo and Ahsoka watch Sprekker Jok, but while the only sign of anger on Riyo's face is the slightest crinkle between her eyebrows, the look on Ahsoka's face is downright murderous, with her lips peeled back from her pointed teeth and her eyes wide and focused. A low growl emanates from within her chest.

Sprekker watches them all dispassionately. The remaining two bounty hunters are here too, only they are busy chipping out a hole in the ice using picks. If it were under other circumstances, it'd be impressive.

Beyond the bounty hunters are a couple hover sleds laden with more cinder blocks and chains. No doubt meant for them, judging by Riyo's example.

Riyo glares up at Sprekker, and try as she might, the subtle tremble of her shoulders betrays how frightened she really is. "Why?"

Sprekker's eyes have never been so hard and so cold. "With your death, Uncle Chi's death will be avenged."

Riyo balks. "Chairman Cho, Chairman Chi Cho, he was your uncle?"

"Yes. I'm a junior; my father was named Sprekker Jok Senior, and he was Chi Cho's illegitimate brother. They were raised together. When my father died during one of Uncle Chi's military campaigns, Uncle Chi took me in and raised me like a son."

"Should I have known that?" Riyo asks.

"No one outside the Cho family knows it. Uncle didn't formally announce the adoption and after he turned out to like me better than his actual son, the rest of the Cho family preferred to keep their distance." Sprekker scowls. "But then Uncle _died_. I thought that perhaps Auntie and Rommeruk would want vengeance for your treachery, but no, they didn't! Instead, Auntie suggests an alliance!"

"So it falls to you to take revenge?" Riyo asks, incredulous.

"Yes, it does! And after you're finally dead, I'll be free of this responsibility. You don't comprehend, Senator, how difficult it was to befriend you. How much patience it took, how much planning and credits I sunk into this. Nor do you understand how worthy I consider the investment. It's a relief that you and Rommeruk didn't get married after all; it'd be more difficult for me to kill my cousin's wife," Sprekker says, his face twisting into something ugly.

"Wait, that means Rommeruk really was a good guy after all?" Ahsoka asks.

Sprekker gives a short bark of surprised laughter. "Of all the questions you have…yes! My cousin is actually a pacifist and good with kids. You really should have given him a chance."

"Let the Jedi go, Sprekker. Whatever it is between us, it doesn't concern them," Riyo says.

"It _is_ a shame that they should be collateral, but no. I'm not stupid, Riyo. I know they are the reason why you were able to escape the first time. But perhaps it is best that you escaped so that we can have a drowning now. A proper drowning for a proper Pantoran," Sprekker says.

Barriss subtly scoots over to Ahsoka and whispers, "I have a plan."

"Good, because I can't break through durasteel. What're you thinking?" Ahsoka whispers back.

"If I can get one hand free from the cuffs, it might be enough for me to use the Force and free us all."

"Yeah, okay, but how are you gonna free that hand? The bounty hunters have our lightsabers, so we can't cut them open."

Barriss grimaces. "You'll need to break my wrist."

Ahsoka pulls away, open horror on her face. "No."

"Do you have any ideas? Because I'm open to suggestions."

Ahsoka's mouth curls into a snarl, and Barriss almost retreats in alarm until she realizes that Ahsoka's truly frustrated with herself, not with Barriss and her request. Her blue eyes flicker as she tries to desperately come up with something—anything. Anything at all.

"Break my wrist instead," Ahsoka whispers.

"Can you undo all the locks at once? Because that is what you'll have to do." Anything less would turn out awful for them.

More snarling, and even some growling, but Ahsoka ultimately quiets. She must have cycled through the entire grieving process within the past second; Barriss certainly watched it play out over her face.

Barriss scoots forward again. "If there's one thing that this trip has taught me, it is that success is a sliding scale. A broken wrist is a small price to pay for our overall survival. Ahsoka, please. I wouldn't ask you to do it if I could do it myself."

Ahsoka's eyebrow marks knit together in worry, then she wriggles close and reaches out as far as the chains will let her. She holds Barriss's left hand in hers.

"Like this?" She asks, a little defeated. Her warm breath comes out against Barriss's forehead.

"Yes," Barriss whispers. A horrid, sinking feeling settles in her stomach, and she tries her best to relax.

"I'm sorry, Barriss."

"Don't you dare feel bad about this," Barriss whispers. It'd be better if there was a stick for her to bite down on, but as it is, her clothes will have to do. She tucks her chin in and bites down on the purple material of her hood.

"Ready," Barriss whispers through the cloth.

SNAP.

Barriss whimpers and recoils as Ahsoka breaks her wrist, sending sharp pain lancing through her arm. She hates this. Hates that Ahsoka did this to her. Hates that she asked her to do it. Barriss pulls her hand through the narrow pinch of the cuff until it's free.

Free. The Force cuts through the pain, tingling in her nerves and in her bones. Barriss grasps the tiny sliver of the Force she can feel and doesn't let go.

At Barriss' whimper, everyone else turns to look. Riyo gasps, and the bounty hunters start towards them, but Barriss clenches her teeth and draws in a deep breath. She closes her eyes, reaches out through the Force, and _twists_.

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.

All the cuffs and all the padlocks clipped to the chains pop open and fall into the snow. Riyo stares down at her freed hands, her mouth open in amazement. The bounty hunters stop in their tracks, and Sprekker blanches. Ahsoka shrugs out of her chains and lets them fall into the powdered snow. Her eyes and teeth flash in the low light.

Sprekker and the bounty hunters draw their blasters, but Ahsoka reaches out and summons them from their hands and catches them. The last goes wide and skitters across the ice until it's lost in the snow. Ahsoka crushes the remaining blasters in her fists, making them crack and spark as they're warped beyond functionality.

Sprekker turns and kicks Riyo's duracrete blocks into the hole, where they disappear into the dark water with a splash. The chains that are pulled through the blocks and around Riyo's ankles aren't fastened with a lock, and they hold fast as they drag her drag her belly-down across the ice. Riyo shrieks and rakes her fingers across the surface, sending snow everywhere as she searches for a handhold, but in vain. She takes a deep breath before she's swallowed up by the sea.

Sprekker runs towards the hover sleds.

Ahsoka winds back, her arm flexing, and pitches the two crushes blasters as hard as she can. The first hits a bounty hunter's helmet, cracking the visor in two and caving in the forehead to a devastating degree. He falls through the ice with a splash. The other blaster smashes into one of the hover sleds. The duracrete blocks and chains spill onto the ice, breaking it open. One of the sleds falls through the ice as it tips over.

Sprekker ducks and runs past the sleds. His boots keep inches ahead of a quickly-forming spiderweb of fine cracks in the ice.

PEW. The last bounty hunter shoots at Ahsoka, who merely palms the bolt of red light away with the Force and rushes at him. The blaster bolt fizzles out in the snow.

"Riyo!" Barriss goes to the edge of the hole and sees nothing but black water. She cradles her injured arm to her chest and tries not to panic. Riyo's down there. _She's down there and sinking further and further by the second._ But even now, Barriss can sense Riyo's light in the Force. Tiny, like a candle. A candle that's flickering out.

"Here." Ahsoka gently presses the cool hilt of Barriss's lightsaber into her good hand, then reaches up to pull her parka off.

"No, no. It's too cold; you'd drown too. I'll do it. I can sense that far down," Barriss mutters. She doesn't even bother asking what happened to the last bounty hunter.

"Then how can I help?" Ahsoka asks.

"Arrest Sprekker."

Just like that, Ahsoka's gone, sprinting across the frozen sea towards Defiance. Sprekker is a distant figure, but he's slipping and sliding all over the ice, and he's not so far away that a Togruta Jedi can't catch up.

Barriss clips her lightsaber to her belt, closes her eyes and whips the Force down through the water towards Riyo. Down, down, down, until the current isn't harsh, until the pressure is too much, until where the light would thin if it were daytime. Barriss cuts down through it all until she lashes around Riyo; a tiny body in the vast expanse of the ocean. Barriss _pulls_, but finds Riyo tangled.

Of all things, she is tangled in a fishing net, and it gives an answering tug.

Barriss closes her lips around a sob. _No_, she thinks. _No._ It simply isn't possible. The Force is the Force and while the locals may invent masks for It that fit their views, the Force is still the Force.

The Force does not have a_ fishing net_ because It doesn't need one; the Force does not gather drowning people. And yet here they are, and there the net is, and it coils possessively around Riyo.

Barriss surprises herself by wrenching it away with the Force. Whatever it is, it has no business around Riyo.

The net presses in, adamant, but Barriss maintains a shell of the Force around Riyo. It's not something she can keep up forever, however. Barriss will eventually run out of energy, and then whatever is down there will be free to take Riyo for themselves. Barriss will have to find a different way and if she can't do it through brute force, then….

Barriss's vision goes hazy from tears. Her good hand is clenched tight above the hole in the ice and the other is throbbing with blood and pain and she is shaking from the effort of staying upright.

All around Barriss, the cracks form as fine as lace. If she doesn't let go of Riyo now and lie down, she will be dragged under the same as the sunken hover sled. And if the ice is that fragile here, then it must also be the same everywhere else, and Ahsoka is the heaviest of all of them.

From a distance, in the direction that Ahsoka went, comes the crack of breaking ice. Barriss looks, but doesn't see anything but the darkness of night.

Barriss cannot imagine a galaxy without either of them, but however such a galaxy would be, it would also be so cruel, so ruthless, so incredibly lonely. She wasn't lying when she told Riyo that the galaxy would be poorer if she and Ahsoka would leave it.

"Please! Please don't. Don't take them," Barriss manages to whisper through her closing throat. She would do pretty much anything to save them, even beg alleged gods.

There is a terrible moment where the net lingers, unrelenting, but then is whisked away as if it had never existed. As if whatever was down there heard what Barriss was thinking. The chain unravels from around Riyo's ankles and sinks down into the depths of the ocean.

Barriss cries and pulls again. This time, Riyo rises unheeded through the water.

* * *

The falling snow makes the ice slippery. Ahsoka maintains a steady pace as she follows Sprekker with a single-minded focus, and she's getting closer and closer with each measured step.

Sprekker was Riyo's friend. Riyo trusted him, and he ended up literally shooting them in the back. _In the back!_ Riyo's back. Barriss' back. And now Barriss is hurt and Riyo has been plunged into the sea.

Barriss had said to arrest him, which means Ahsoka needs to bring him in alive, but no one said anything about what state he had to be in.

CRACK.

The ice splinters beneath Ahsoka's feet, and she falters and tries to step away, only for the cracks to follow her. Cracks of all size form in the ice around her, and the Force blares a warning in her head. Several feet away, Sprekker also slows down as he picks his way across the flimsy ice. But he's still moving too fast and too recklessly.

"Sprekker, stop! You'll fall in!" Ahsoka shouts.

Sprekker glances over his shoulder at her, but keeps going. All the while, the ice keeps crumbling and the Force's warning gets louder and louder in her montrals until it's deafening.

Ahsoka slowly gets down on her stomach, with her arms stretched out before her. With her head this close, she can actually hear the ice creaking and snapping beneath her.

_Stay. _

Ahsoka stills on the ice. A pressure builds up over her back, as if pinning her in place, as prickly as being held by an oversized mouth full of knives. She has felt, or known, the Force to be so commanding before, on Mortis, but it's also different somehow. It's wilder, more animated and more dangerous. If she didn't know any better, she'd classify it as the Dark Side, except it isn't malicious at all. Whatever it is, she must obey, and whatever is happening, she must not interfere. Ahsoka's hands flatten over the ice in surrender.

Sprekker smirks back at her and keeps walking towards Defiance at a more sedate pace.

CRACK.

Sprekker falls through the ice with a shout. One second he is there, and the next he has sunk down to his waist. His hands spring out over the ice, keeping himself from sinking any further, and he scrambles to float on his belly. He gives a dark, relieved chuckle as he begins to crawl forward.

Ahsoka's hands twitch. She could try to summon him with the Force, but she's never summoned anything of his size from so far away before. It proves to be a moot point, however, as Sprekker is pulled under by the same invisible presence that pins Ahsoka to the ice. His scream is cut short as he's dragged into the sea, and in the Force, his presence disappears. Like he was never there.

The teeth retreat and the pressure on Ahsoka's back dissipates, freeing her.

"What the kark," Ahsoka whispers as she carefully gets up. "What the kark? What the kark was that?"

Whatever it is, it's still lingering beneath the ice, slowly circling her. Ahsoka takes a few careful steps to the right, and it follows her, as if curious. If Ahsoka goes back to Barriss and Riyo now, she will lead it right to them.

Ahsoka instinctively turns in a circle to face the unknown predator as it swims around her. While she has never hunted an apex aquatic predator before, one that—judging by the power with which it dragged Sprekker into the sea—is probably at least twice her size, it should be relatively easy. She calculates how she might jump, dive through the ice, and catch the thing with a surprise attack.

The ice is thin enough and she has the Force. She could do it.

She'll do it if that's what it takes to keep Barriss and Riyo safe.

Despite how fun that sounds, Ahsoka knows that this is no ordinary creature. She holds a hand out in the its direction and reaches out in the Force to it.

She finds this monster to be a behemoth of a shark, thirty feet long and blind and ancient. A mixed school of lamprey and other fish swim around it, like an escort, or a procession.

Ahsoka breathes in deep as she concedes to the shark. Barriss said to arrest Sprekker, but he was never theirs to take, was he?

The monster takes one last lazy lap around Ahsoka before it peels off and swims away, not towards Defiance, but not towards Barriss and Riyo either. Ahsoka waits until it's far away, then huffs and lowers her arm.

The hole that Sprekker fell through is already freezing over. Ahsoka gives it one last long look before she leaves the way she came.

* * *

Riyo emerges from the water, splashing everywhere. Barriss sets her down on the ice and kneels at her side, but she remains unresponsive, with her head lolling to the side.

"Riyo?" Barriss places her good hand over Riyo's nose and mouth, but feels no air. She's not breathing. Barriss presses two fingers against Riyo's neck instead and feels the slightest pulse. She's alive, but only just. Riyo's aura is quickly disappearing in the Force, and Barriss hurries to treat her as best she can with just one hand.

Open the patient's mouth. Make sure that the tongue is out of the way of the windpipe, then tilt the head back to ensure airflow.

A horrible gasping noise escapes Riyo's throat, but Riyo herself doesn't stir.

Barriss ignores the sinking feeling in her gut and pinches Riyo's nose shut.

Make a seal over the patient's mouth with yours and give two breaths. Look to see if the patient's chest rises and falls. If the chest doesn't rise, then the seal is deficient. Try again.

Ahsoka comes out of the darkness and kneels at Riyo's other side.

"What's wrong with her?"

Barriss pauses to take Ahsoka in. Unhurt. Alive. Not at the bottom of the ocean. "She's not breathing. Have you been trained in emergency aid?"

Ahsoka nods. "Do you need me to do the compressions?"

"Yes."

Put the heel of your hand in the center of the patient's chest. Place the other hand over the first. Lock your elbows and press down two inches at a rate of about a hundred to a hundred and twenty times per minute. Let the chest rise completely between compressions.

"Come on, Riyo!" Ahsoka shouts, her teeth clenched.

Barriss keeps Riyo's nose pinched shut, but carefully watches Riyo's face for any change.

Do two breaths every thirty chest compressions. Do this until the patient starts breathing, or emergency help arrives.

Emergency help will not arrive. Barriss and Ahsoka are the emergency help. There is no one else.

There is no one else.

It is just Barriss and Ahsoka and Riyo in the middle of this frozen wasteland with all this falling snow.

Barriss breathes into Riyo's mouth and Ahsoka presses on Riyo's chest. If she needs lungs, here they are. If she needs a heart, here they are. There is so much here they can give Riyo, if she would wake up and ask.

Riyo chokes and Barriss lets go and leans back.

"Hurk!" Riyo rolls onto her side and spits up what must be almost a liter of water; it spills out of her mouth and onto the snow around them.

Ahsoka pumps her fist in the air and whoops. "Yeah!"

"Ugh!" Riyo cries and clutches her chest as she sucks in air and has a coughing fit.

"There you are." Barriss leans over her and carefully smoothes her wet hair from her face, then holds it back as she continues to cough.

"Sprekker? Where's Sprekker?" Riyo wheezes. Her face is scrunched in pain.

"Don't worry about him," Ahsoka says. She squats down next to Riyo and thumps her on the back, helping her cough up even more water. When Riyo finally runs dry, Ahsoka switches to rubbing circles over her back. Riyo curls up between them and shivers.

"Are you two all right?" Riyo asks, her voice small and hoarse.

"Never better. Are you up for traveling?" Barriss asks. Riyo nods.

"Cool, let's go home." Ahsoka scoops Riyo up into her arms and together, the three of them head towards the remaining hover sled.

* * *

Riyo's hospital room is full of tokens from well-wishers. Almost every horizontal surface is covered in bouquets and cards. There are even some plush toy bears. Riyo sits up in bed, fully dried and warmed and awake. Her light purple hair has been pulled into a half-updo, and the rest tumbles over her shoulders and down her back. There is a tray on Riyo's lap, and on the tray are thank you cards. Her secretary stands at the side of the bed with folders of more cards under their arm, and they swap out the signed ones for fresh ones and gently inform her which ones are for who. There must be cards for everyone who sent flowers, and more. Riyo dutifully signs them all, and when she's done, the secretary shuffles the flimsi together and bids Riyo a good rest. They give Barriss and Ahsoka a polite nod before leaving.

Ahsoka sits next to her, in a position to see both the door and the window clearly. It's toasty in here, so her parka hangs from the back of her chair. Ahsoka's hand is over her mouth and nose to protect her from the strongest smelling flowers. One or two is fine, but this place might as well be a nursery. Riyo must have noticed her discomfort, because she calls a nurse and asks her to distribute the flowers to other patients. The nurses transfer most of the bouquets to a cart and wheel them out. When the door closes again, it's blissfully quiet, only for Riyo to open a small packet of gummy snacks as she leans back against the pillows; the plastoid packaging crinkles in her hands.

She pops a gummy in her mouth and chews, then holds the packet out to them. "Want some? It's meiloorun."

Barriss, who sits on Riyo's other side, reaches into the little bag with her good hand.

"I'm sorry about your wrist, Barriss," Riyo says.

Barriss has strategically placed herself opposite of Ahsoka the entire time they've been in this hospital so that Riyo is never alone and never too far from either of them. Her left sleeve has been unbuttoned and rolled up to make room for her cast. It extends from her knuckles all the way up her forearm, but stops at her elbow. There is no tension in Barriss' shoulders. No worry in her brow. There is just her clear blue eyes and the most sincere smile that Ahsoka's ever seen on her face.

Barriss eats a gummy and puts her hand over the cast.

"Don't be. It's not your fault and I have no regrets." She pauses, her eyes unsure. "Would you both like to sign it?"

The corners of Riyo's mouth turn up. "I'd like that very much. Here, you go first, Ahsoka." And she offers the stylus.

Ahsoka takes the stylus and scoots the chair closer. Barriss climbs onto the bed and reaches across Riyo's lap.

"Although, it might need to be in a discrete place," Barriss says. Ahsoka hums, then takes Barriss' hand in both of hers. There's a twinge of guilt in her chest. She did this. Yeah, Barriss did ask her to, but still.

"It'll heal in two months," Barriss says.

"That's a long time."

"That's actually quite short compared to the convalescence of non-sensitives." Barriss smiles up at her. "Two months, and no surgery required. It's a pretty good deal."

"I'm sure the pain tabs are sublime too," Riyo says.

Barriss hesitates, then says, "They are very nice."

Ahsoka looks here and there over Barriss' pristine cast, then gently turns it over to reveal the underside.

"Here?" She asks. Barriss nods, as if her voice has stopped working. What should she write? Get well soon? Her com code? Fragile: handle with care? Ahsoka carefully draws a heart shape as neatly as she can on Barriss' wrist and colors it in.

"Done." Ahsoka reluctantly lets go and returns the stylus to Riyo. "Are…you wearing lipstick?"

"Where did you get that? Where were you keeping it?" Barriss asks.

Riyo is indeed wearing dark blue lipstick when she wasn't a minute ago, and she waves their questions away. "Do you want me to sign it or not?"

Barriss, bewildered, holds out her hand. Riyo holds it still in her hands, leans down, and kisses the inside of Barriss's wrist, just under Ahsoka's note.

Ahsoka lets out a shocked, but delighted gasp, not just at the shameless display, but at Barriss's sudden turmoil in the Force and the deep blush spreading across her face.

Riyo lets go and wipes her mouth on a napkin, getting rid of the lipstick. "Sorry, did I go too far?"

Barriss stares down at the blue lipstick mark. "No," she says after a long moment.

"We could get rid of it," Riyo says, but Barriss turns away, protecting the cast.

"No!"

Ahsoka laughs. Riyo giggles and tosses the napkin in the trash can.

There's a knock on the door, and it opens, revealing Rommeruk Cho. His hat is pinned under his arm and in his hands he holds a bouquet.

"Senator," he says.

"Your Grace," Riyo says.

"I'm very sorry about my cousin." And here, he gives the flowers to Riyo, who accepts them with a small 'thank you.'

"And I'm very sorry about the Summit."

Riyo stills. "What? What happened?"

"Nothing! With you and Sprekker gone most of the time, I had to mediate. War almost broke out no less than three separate times. It wouldn't have happened if you were mediating."

"No, it wouldn't have," Riyo says. "You really didn't know what Sprekker was up to?"

Rommeruk shakes his head again. "He estranged himself shortly after my father's death. We…disagreed on how to move on. I can't help but feel responsible. The Summit is over now, but nothing much was agreed upon. Our people still don't trust each other."

"Always so cynical. The fact is that the Talz trusted us enough to let their most important leaders step foot on this moon for several days. Progress, no matter how small, is still progress."

The corner of Rommeruk's mouth turns up and he turns his hat around in his hands. "Still so optimistic. I can't see how Sprekker or my father thought Pantora would be better off without you. Riyo, if I may…."

Riyo sets the flowers to the side and gives him her full attention, her gold eyes sharp. "If you are about to do what I think you're going to do, don't. We've talked about this before, and we've talked many times. Such an arrangement wouldn't be fair to either of us. And I've told you my reasons."

"Yes, you have." Rommeruk looks directly at Ahsoka as he says this, his eyes piercing, and she almost flinches back. She realizes that she's been leaning forward in her chair throughout the entire exchange, with her fingers clenched in her lap. Too late, Ahsoka tries to keep a neutral expression on her face.

Why is this guy here? Sure, he wasn't behind the abduction after all, and sure, he's nicer than he appears to be, but can't he just _leave already?_ The sooner that Ahsoka doesn't have to look at his punchable face, the better.

Rommeruk glances at Barriss too, then returns to Riyo. "If I never ask, then you'll never have to say 'no,' and both of our dignities are spared."

"That was the deal," Riyo gently says.

Rommeruk snorts, then gives a slight bow. "I'll be in touch, Senator. I hope you get better soon."

"Thank you, Your Grace."

And with that, Rommeruk turns and leaves the room. The door clicks shut after him, and Riyo lets out a long sigh.

"What a creep," Ahsoka mutters. "He wants to marry you, but he doesn't even like you."

"Ahsoka, that's very unkind of you!" Barriss says.

"Don't pretend you disagree. He doesn't take Riyo's opinions seriously, so he doesn't take Riyo seriously, which means he doesn't like her."

"That's not what the gossip rags say," Riyo says.

"The gossip rags can shove it."

"I…well, the tabloids _are_ rather malicious," Barriss says.

BEEP.

Riyo's data pad lights up from its place on the side table. Ahsoka picks it up and hands it to Riyo, who swipes across the screen to read. She frowns.

"What is it?" Barriss asks.

"The Jedi Order messaged me. Now that the Summit is over, they're asking when to expect you to return," Riyo says.

Ahsoka clicks her tongue and looks away. Barriss just sighs.

"We will return when you are well enough to travel. We will…." Here, Barriss's voice wavers, but she continues. "We will report to the Council and we will respectfully resign from the Order."

One of Riyo's eyebrows goes up. "Just like that?"

"Yes. It's rather drastic, but it can't be helped. I've looked into registering as a conscientious objector, but the Jedi don't allow for that sort of thing."

"But if you are generals and commanders in this war, then you are beholden to military law, and military law allows for soldiers and officers to develop conscientious objections and to abstain from fighting."

"Usually, you would be correct, but the relationship between the Jedi and the Republic is made up of exceptions. We are not Republic citizens, but we command the GAR. We command the GAR, but we are not subjected to military law. I would rather not wade into that mess," Barriss says.

A sly smile spreads across Riyo's face at that. "It sounds like you've been brushing up on your line of reasoning, Barriss. When did you do that?"

"It was gonna happen eventually; you're a bad influence," Ahsoka says. Riyo laughs.

Barriss frowns. "I'll admit that I'm concerned of our path outside of the Order. When we leave, then what would we do? How would be do it? We've not much by way of credits, and we don't have a ship, and we won't have any identichips either. No citizenship means no clearance, and no support."

"How many credits do you have? Would they follow you out of the Order?" Riyo asks.

"Yes, because the accounts are with the Banking Clan," Barriss says.

"I have about one thousand credits," Ahsoka says.

"And I have a bit more than two thousand," Barriss says.

"Three thousand credits?" Riyo taps her chin as she thinks. "Give me five days and I'll flip it for eight."

Barriss squints. "How?"

"If you have to ask, it's not a gift," Riyo says.

Barriss's nose scrunches. "I don't like that, but I won't ask. Tell me no one will get hurt."

Riyo raises her hand. "No one will get hurt."

"There see? We'll be fine," Ahsoka says. "Riyo, can we stay at your place until we figure stuff out?"

"Of course! Anytime," Riyo says.

"And as for a ship, I mean, I could always slice one," Ahsoka says.

"Who said you'd have to steal?" Riyo asks. She reaches out, and Ahsoka automatically takes her hand. Riyo lightly tugs, and Ahsoka joins them on the bed.

"Who told you that you'd have to steal a ship, Ahsoka?" Riyo asks in a low voice. Their faces are so close that her breath tickles Ashoka's nose. Her heart thuds in her chest.

So this is how Barriss must have felt when Riyo kissed her wrist. Ahsoka's dimly aware of how Barriss watches them from the other side of the bed, her fascination leaking through the Force Bond. Damn if it isn't the smoothest thing Ahsoka's ever seen Riyo do, and her mouth turns dry, but a teasing glint in Riyo's eyes jolts Ahsoka back to her senses.

Oh. That's how it is, huh? Well, Ahsoka can play too.

"Would you get us a ship if I asked you nicely?" And at that, Ahsoka lowers her gaze to Riyo's mouth.

Riyo's eyes flicker. To her credit, she doesn't move away at all.

"Ask me nicely," Riyo whispers, teasing save for the spike of pure _want_ cutting through her humor. It's hidden as fast as it appears, but it's too late. Ahsoka sobers from the sheer magnitude of it. How can emotions so intense be housed in such a small body? And how can Ahsoka not hold feelings just a fierce in return?

There is no shying away either. Not this time. There are no blinders to divert Ahsoka's attention and there are no reasons why she should box away her wants the way she's always done before. And by the Force, does Ahsoka ever want.

Ahsoka wants to kiss Riyo. She wants to curl around her like how they did in the Moonlit Monastery. She wants to pull the collar of Riyo's shirt aside and press her mouth to the yellow tattoos woven over the tops of her shoulders.

There's a spike of surprise through the Force Bond, and Ahsoka glances past Riyo to Barriss, who is blushing under her lumen. Was…was Ahsoka broadcasting that through the Force? Oh no.

But instead of leaving in disgust, Barriss stays. She stays and her fingers curl in her lap, crumpling the material of her skirt in her fists. Like she's holding herself back.

That just won't do, but Ahsoka will get to that. She looks back to Riyo.

But Riyo pulls back, flushed indigo. "I mean, of course I was _joking_. You and Barriss aren't _obligated_…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…."

Yeah, maybe she shouldn't have, but Ahsoka started it. She started it and she might as well finish it too, as it's the responsible thing to do. Ahsoka leans in and kisses Riyo, catching the corner of her mouth. Riyo gasps, and a sharp thrill zings through her aura. After a moment, she lays an cautious hand on Ahsoka's arm and turns her head for a proper kiss. Riyo is soft against Ahsoka's mouth and blazing hot. Sweet too, because of that candy.

Ahsoka is careful or her teeth and makes sure not to bite down, even as Riyo responds with rising insistence. Her fingers skim up Ahsoka's arm and curl around her shoulders, pulling her closer. Ahsoka's montrals pick up the quickening thrum of Riyo's pulse, and she is so very pleased. She's doing that to Riyo. She caused that.

When Ahsoka finally sits back, contented, she leaves Riyo breathless and dazed, her pupils are blown wide open. A dopey smile slowly spreads across Riyo's face as she turns to Barriss.

Barriss still hasn't left, and the Force around her is a mess of swirling emotion. She looks down as if she hasn't been watching. As if she didn't also sense that lapse in Riyo's mental shields. As if she hasn't felt what Ahsoka felt through the Force Bond they share.

"What about you?" Ahsoka asks.

Barriss' eyes widen. "What about me?"

"Do you want one too?"

"So you're just giving them out today, huh?" Barriss' voice cracks and she clears her throat. Ahsoka scoots across the bed to Barriss, so close that their hips touch.

"Only to Riyo, and to you if you want them," Ahsoka says. Behind her, Riyo gives a strangled noise.

"If I want them," Barriss repeats, her voice soft. "If I want them from the both of you."

"Yeah," Ahsoka says.

A torn look passes over Barriss' face. She was always more methodical, always had to examine an issue or situation thoroughly to the point of exhaustion. It might too much too soon. A pang goes through Ahsoka's heart, and she moves to shift back.

"Yeah, it's a little fast, isn't it? I'm sorry."

But Barriss' hand falls over Ahsoka's and holds fast. Ahsoka stills.

"Barriss?"

Barriss finally glances up, her blue eyes clear and sure, then flutter closed as she leans in and presses her lips to Ahsoka's.

The Force flares around them in response, bright and warm. Ahsoka gathers Barriss into her lap as she kisses back, making Barriss melt around her. Compared to the intensity of the last kiss, this one remains slow and patient. Barriss breaks the kiss to breathe and drops her forehead against Ahsoka's shoulder. She hooks her fingers into the material of Ahsoka's dress and shakes.

Riyo ducks to better see. "Barriss, are you crying?"

"No…yes," Barriss mumbles.

"Damn. I was that bad, huh?" Ahsoka says.

Barriss gives a watery chuckle. "No, I'm just really happy."

Ahsoka hugs her tight and looks at Riyo over her shoulder. Riyo's grinning like a fool, and Ahsoka must be doing the same, because her cheeks hurt.

"Your bed on Coruscant, is it big enough for all of us?" Now that Ahsoka has the two of them, there's no way she's ever letting go.

Riyo shakes her head. "It's not, but I can fix that."

* * *

Reindeer Ridge can't be found on a map, nor has it been found by any other travelers. There is no recorded history of it in any database.

Vuyo Kortzeer tried reconnecting with his ex fiancé, but she already moved on. That's ok though, because he found someone else and married her. Sanele Kortzeer got her degree and moved to Kark You Pay Me, Pantora to help develop the town.

Anathi Mafoo and his family donated the hunted seals to the people of Bravado. His eldest son, Dumi, returned from exile and inherited the Count title. Thandi never quite got the hang of the uhadi, but was able to tour Pantora by playing the batanga as part of a band.

Nanuk, his wife Yuka, their friends Osha and Ujarak, and the rest of the Breede Ice Ferry passengers survived the bounty hunter attack without any injuries and got to their destination safely.

Priestess Kupun made it back to the Moonlight Monastery by taxi. Riyo bought High Priestess Estuuya and the priestesses a new speeder to replace the one she, Barriss, and Ahsoka stole, and also donated enough credits to fix the damaged classroom. The priestesses are very grateful.

Riyo became Ahsoka's and Barriss' financier and treasurer. After Barriss and Ahsoka quit the Jedi, Riyo provided them with the proper flimsies, identichips with clearance, and the equipment they need to travel the galaxy and help people. It's all far too expensive for a Senator's salary, but they don't ask where it came from and Riyo doesn't tell them where she got it all. Riyo joins them on their adventures when she can.

Ahsoka and Barriss went on to cause a major and successful slave rebellion in Hutt Space. They each have seven figure bounties on their heads and have been deified on a couple planets for their efforts. After every adventure, they come back to Riyo.

The three of them are very, very happy.

* * *

Note Bene: And that's it. They're together and they're content. I left a short epilogue, but if there are any remaining questions, let me know and I'll answer them as best I can.

This story is a Dante's Inferno AU! Yeah! I hope you guys see it. I actually hope you reread it and pick up on some things now that you have this extra context. I try to write things with a lot of rereading value. I've also added this to the story tags so that people may be enticed to read.

Rommeruk is a good man, but he's not a nice man, nor is he a kind man. It's important to know the difference, and it's important to know which of these things (if any) truly matters to you. As an effective politician, Riyo already knows this. If she were interested in men — she's not, but if she were — Rommeruk would not be her type.

I'm really glad this isn't a het story.

The ending was planned from the start. Riyo was always going to be dropped into the sea. Barriss was always going to break a wrist. Ahsoka was always going to go head-to-head with a sea monster. But when I write these girls into trouble, I get to write them out of trouble again.

Thank you so much for reading this story! I hope you had a good time.

You can visit me on Tumblr; I'm Artyblogs.

Thank you.


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